StrongSample

Family Strong

Roger D. Lipe

Ready:

“Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.” Romans 12:3b-5

Set:

Highly successful sports teams function much like a family or like a person’s body. Each member of the team, the family, or the body is unique in identity, specialized in function, and distinct in form. Teams, like families, sometimes have to deal with comparisons made between their members. In these comparisons, we all lose as the team is diminished.

This scripture challenges us to evaluate ourselves by the faith God has given us. Given that each member of the team or the family is unique in identity, specialized in function, and distinct in form, our team would be lesser if suddenly without any one of our members.

Rather than make foolish comparisons, let’s revel in the diversity, uniqueness, and specialized abilities of our teammates. A wise and winsome attitude like that acknowledges that we are all a part of one body, that we all belong to each other, and that will make our team—Family Strong!

Go:

1. In what ways do you and your teammates make comparisons with each other?

2. How would you and your team be better served by honest self-evaluation instead of such comparisons?

3. What are some of your attributes that make you unique in identity, specialized in function, and distinct in form?

Overtime:

Father, thank You for placing me in a team, in a family, and in Your Body, the Church. Please guard my heart from foolish comparisons, and lead me to wise and honest self-evaluation as empowered by my faith in Jesus. Please enable me to contribute fully to my family, my team, and to my church. I pray and I compete in Jesus’ name, Amen.