In rugby, there are 15 players on a team. Each one of them is vital to the success of the team. But it goes much wider than that.

Bryan Habana played professional rugby for 14 years and represented his country, South Africa, as part of the national team, the Springboks, countless times. Recently, he shared the news that this season, 2018, will be his last. In his retirement announcement, he mentions the countless people who were involved in his success — the people who poured into his life to help him along in his journey.

This is also true for everyone who wants to live a life of faith.

In 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 we read: “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body — whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.”

We cannot live authentic lives as followers of Jesus apart from the Church. We need each other. Whatever criticism you and I may have about the Church, we are still a part of it and we must act as one. We must find ways to reconcile, swallow our pride and come back to the fellowship of believers.

We need to learn humility and how to serve and love each other even if we do not always like each another. Listening to television messages or worship music is not enough. We are part of the body and need to feel each other’s pain and share each other’s joy. That is how we individually, and as a whole, will be successful in God’s eyes.

Go to Sunday fellowship, join a small group, get involved in outreach. The Holy Spirit inside of Jesus followers works powerfully through his body, the Church.

— Stephan van der Merwe

If you would like to submit a reader devotional, please email all submissions to jason@sportsspectrum.com.