MJ and Unity
In his 1st or 2nd year in the NBA, Michael Jordan and the Bulls were struggling and had just been beaten in the first round of the playoffs by the Celtics. Jordan scored 60 points. As he was walking off the court, a reporter walked up to Michael and said that “there is no I in TEAM.” He turned around, looked in the camera, and said, ” there is in WIN though.” Classic.
Outside of Jordan (in his early years), unity is a powerful message in team sports. Arguably, Jordan learned this lesson later in is his career as the Bulls became an all-around team winning six championships. Jordan had crazy talent with 0 championships. Once the Bulls became unified, they became a machine. I’ll take team unity over talent any day. Team unity wins championships. Think about it. You never see a divided team win championships. When the going gets tough, they fall apart.
One may can argue with my statements of Jordan, but I don’t think anyone would argue with the value of unity in team sports. Why then are we so divided when it comes to practically anything else in the world? Think any issue in culture, division. Family, division. Business, division. And, this is especially true when it comes to religion. Major division.
There are so many issues in religion that divide. Works or grace. Baptism or sprinkling. Invitations or not. Arminianism versus Calvinism. Choir or no choir. Formal or informal. Big church or small church. The list goes on and on and on. In John 17, as Jesus is praying to His Father right before he is arrested, he prays for future believers, passionately requesting oneness.
John 17 – 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Jesus prayed that future believers would be one. Why? Verse 23 says “so that the world may know that you sent me.” Unity was to give the world a view of Jesus Christ.
Man-made religion draws many dividing lines in Christianity. However, the Bible draws one dividing line, Jesus. So, I hear you if you shy away from religion. I think many equate “religion” with the Bible. Religion defined by culture could not be further from the truth of the Bible. Become Biblically literate, as this is where unity can be discovered.
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