Teamwork is messy, because it involves people. Teamwork requires trust not control. Celebrating others’ successes not getting credit. Choosing interdependence over independence. But at the end of the day, teamwork trumps isolation. More gets accomplished and it pleases God when His children work together.

In what ways can you share God’s love to help build unity? Gracious God, we confess that our tolerance for ­others can be lacking. Unite us as your people and make us gracious ­toward others just as you have been gracious to us. In Jesus, Amen.

God put us on Earth to do a certain work that only we can do. Ephesians says that God created us to do good works and that he planned in advance what we would spend our lives doing. However, he didn’t plan for us to do that work alone. We need people to work with us. You know the feeling you get when you do too much work on your own.

Our diverse talents work together for a common goal: to know God and make Him known. We can joyfully contribute because all service is valuable and important in God’s economy. We can genuinely cheer on our friends and co-laborers in Christ because we know that God has uniquely gifted them to serve Him.