Do not underestimate what you can do as a team

Baseball legend Cal Ripken, Jr. was interviewed about his success as a baseball player. Many believe he is one of the greatest players in baseball history, but his individual success was not what mattered most to him. In the interview, he said: “I’d much rather be referred to not as an individually great player, or someone who tore up the record books, but someone who came to the ball park and said: ‘Okay, I’m here. I want to play. What can I do to help us win today?’“

“A lot of people ask, ‘What is your greatest play—your greatest accomplishment?’ I say, ‘I caught the last out of the World Series.’ It wasn’t a great catch—I didn’t dive, I didn’t do a cartwheel and throw the guy out at first base. People’s mouths didn’t drop open on the play. We all want to be part of something bigger. But we all have our little jobs that we have to do as a member of a team. Everybody has their individual responsibilities, but they all have to come together for a main goal…So the most fulfilling moment I could ever have, again, was catching the last out of the World Series—knowing we did it.”

Jesus could have accomplished His work on earth on His own, but he chose to work with a team to fulfill the task. He developed His disciples by giving them intense on-the-job training. He talked with them, prayed with them, affirmed them, warned them, challenged them as a team and even told them they would do even greater things than He did (John 14:12). And He has called us to do the same. Do not ever underestimate what you can do as a team.