Not One Of Us Is As Smart As All Of Us
Our Mission
To present Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord to business and professional men and to develop Christian business and professional men to carry out the Great Commission.
2 Timothy 1.7 reminds, God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and self-discipline…..Therefore do not be ashamed of either the witness about our Lord or me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, (LSB)
This Christian religion is not for the weak but the strong, though we come to Him, Jesus the Savior, because we are weak and because He is strong. We are weak for saving ourselves, impossible for us. We are weak before men in the things that men use for determining strength.
We do not pursue strength through power but strength through weakness that the power of God might be made visible through our weakness. This power, this supernatural strength, is for living obedient lives before God. The power God gives is for persevering in affliction and identifying ourselves with Him while men malign us and persecute us for doing so.
The power of God is for suffering injustice, forgiving our enemy, and loving those who in their ignorance and blindness, hate God and all those who love Him. The Holy Spirit, Who is the power of God, lives inside His people empowering them to boldly, though humbly, identify with Him before men so that men might be saved. The power of God in the man of God is for serving and sharing the love of God with people against God until they are reconciled to God regardless of their actions against us.
Are we Holy Spirit filled people? Is the power of God evident in our lives? It is if we are loving the unlovely, forgiving the unkind, and sharing with these people the love of God in Jesus the Savior. If we are unafraid of the consequences of men to identify with Jesus and share with men their need for Jesus we are indeed filled with Power from on High just as the first disciples.
Our Opportunities
Our first luncheon is scheduled for May 12th. Download a flyer and register here, then pray fervently for men to join you on May 12th to hear our speaker and come to saving faith in Jesus the Lord.
You can partner with us here: https://give.idonate.com/cbmc-inc/lansing
CBMC Central Michigan 4407 W. St. Joe Hwy. Lansing 48917 / 517 481 5996 www.lansing.cbmc.com
MONDAY MANNA
A service to the business community
A Publication of CBMC International
April 25, 2022
Not One Of Us Is As Smart As All Of Us
By Robert J. Tamasy
During my years as a magazine editor, some of my favorite times involved getting our creative team together to plan the titles and graphic design for the next edition. Being a writer with a good sense for visual presentation, I would go into those sessions with my own ideas but would leave each meeting amazed at the results of our creative synergy. And when the issue was finally in print, there was no doubt that the whole was greater than the sum of the parts.
A colleague of mine used to state it this way: “Not one of us is as smart as all of us.” Because we all have our strengths and areas of expertise. Individually we may be able to accomplish some good things; but put different people together who eagerly pool their respective abilities and you can move from good work to a pure masterpiece.
Consider a symphony orchestra: You have a collection of strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. And within each of those groups you have specialized instruments. For instance, in the percussion section you might have snare drums, bass drums, tympani drums, cymbals, bells and gongs. Each is designed to produce distinctive sounds that, when played in literal concert with all the other instruments, can result in a wondrous piece of music.
The same is true in the world of sports, athletes of different sizes and skills, all with distinct responsibilities in a collective pursuit of victory – an outcome that would be impossible if one or more of the team’s members failed to carry out their assignments.
We can see this every day in the business and professional world, companies excelling when the right people are put in the right places to carry out the right responsibilities. Failure to utilize unique capabilities by aligning them together for maximum performance can lead to business failures, even bankruptcy. I like what the Bible teaches about people working together in harmony and toward common goals:
Working together brings added strength. It has been observed that one workhorse can pull a certain weight, but two working together often can pull multiple times that weight. “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the main who falls and has no one to help him up!… Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).
Working together hones our skills. We all can stand improvement, and as we work together, we can help one another to recognize blind-spots, identify weaknesses, and complement each other’s strengths. “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).
Working together provides needed support. Challenges and adversity can discourage, even dishearten even the most determined individuals. As we work together, we can provide mutual encouragement and support. “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today…” (Hebrews 3:13). “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25)
© 2022. Robert J. Tamasy has written Marketplace Ambassadors: CBMC’s Continuing Legacy of Evangelism and Discipleship; Business at Its Best: Timeless Wisdom from Proverbs for Today’s Workplace; Pursuing Life with a Shepherd’s Heart, coauthored with Ken Johnson; and The Heart of Mentoring, coauthored with David A. Stoddard. Bob’s biweekly blog is: www.bobtamasy.blogspot.com.
CBMC Central Michigan 4407 W. St. Joe Hwy. Lansing 48917 / 517 481 5996 lansing.cbmc.com
MONDAY MANNA
A service to the business community
A Publication of CBMC International
April 25, 2022
Reflection/Discussion Questions
- Have you ever worked on a project with a group and experienced an outcome that far exceeded anything you would have imagined you all could have achieved together? If so, what was that like? How did it feel?
- How do you understand the statement, “Not one of us is as smart as all of us”? Drawing from what you have encountered in a workplace setting, do you think this principle receives strong emphasis? Why or why not?
- What are some of the drawbacks of insisting on working independently, even if a person is extremely gifted and highly skilled at what he or she does?
- Do you have anyone that serves in a capacity that might be described as “iron sharpening iron” for you? If so, describe what that is like. What do you think are problems that can result if we do not have a working relationship in which we can sharpen one another?
NOTE: If you have a Bible and would like to read more, consider the following passages: Numbers 11:10-17; Ecclesiastes 4:8; Mark 6:7; Luke 9:1-6, 10:1-2
CBMC Central Michigan 4407 W. St. Joe Hwy. Lansing 48917 / 517 481 5996 lansing.cbmc.com