About the Sport Principle
Together Everyone Achieves More is a great acronym, and it’s absolutely true; but it’s not the whole story: teamwork is essential in sport and in life, but try telling Barcelona fans that it’s all about the team after Messi has just scored five goals in one game! Barcelona are a fantastic team, but they are a team of individually brilliant players, and we miss this at our peril.
Application to Life
You are brilliant! You are. Right now, you may not believe that, but it’s true. As human beings, we all have plenty of weaknesses, but we also have a small number of key strengths. You also have a lot of what we might call non-strengths (as opposed to, and separate from weaknesses). For instance, you may be a brilliant cellist, you just haven’t yet picked up a cello. Who knows how many of these kinds of dormant strengths you may have? That’s why it’s always good to try new things. For everyone reading this there is something for which you could stand a random sample of 10,000 people shoulder to shoulder in the middle of a field, in order of how good they are at that thing, and you could stand at the top of the line. It might be worth writing a list of things you are good at (start with things like smiling – if you’re good at that, that’s rare! And how our British service industry needs people who are good at smiling right now!) Why not write a list of ‘non-strengths’ too, things you may be good at, that perhaps you’d like to try, but you have not yet tried? Then, give them a go.
Throughout the Bible and all of history since the Bible, God always seems to start with the individual. God always starts with the ‘who?’ and when He has found the ‘who’ He gets on with accomplishing the ‘what?’ of His purposes. God first finds the Moses, King David, Elijah, Peter, St. Paul etc., and then He gets on with changing the world through them. And often, if God can’t find His man, He will wait, sometimes for long periods of History. There were roughly 400 years between the two Testaments where nothing really significant was happening across the surface of the earth in the purposes of God. I sometimes think it would help if the Bible had lots of blank pages headed with titles like: “Nothing was happening…” “God couldn’t find anybody…” Etc. If there are any limitations on God, they are always limitations He places on Himself, and they are nearly always to do with people. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want God to have to wait in our generation! This is our time and our turn. You are individually brilliant with a unique gifting that God has given only to you. Like Moses, and the other heroes of the faith, now is the time to stand up and be counted, using whatever talent you have to make a difference for the Kingdom of God.
You are individually brilliant!
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
2 Chronicles 16:9
Image Credit: Manny Becerra
