“Let not mercy and truth forsake you….” (NKJV) Proverbs 3:3

Working with a team is not easy. To do so while starting a fellowship in a difficult country makes it a bigger challenge. First, we did not choose each other. Second, we are so diverse. Third, we don’t have much natural affinity for each other: I never would have selected any of my present teammates even as colleagues, to say nothing of friends. However, God chose us to work together and that needs to be our perspective.

As a team, we decided to make unity a top priority and selected Proverbs 3:3-4 NKJV to be the guide for our relationships: “Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them about your neck, write them on the tables of your heart; so shall you find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and men.” (Emphasis mine)

Mercy is extending to others the undeserved grace we ourselves have received from Jesus. Mercy is the opposite of being judgmental, critical and negative.

Mercy flows from humility, which can be defined as “seeing myself as God sees me.” That is, we are all sinners who are faulty and make mistakes, but are also children of the King, forgiven, accepted, delighted in and deeply loved by God. Thus, as we see ourselves as no better than others, we will be in awe of God’s acceptance of us and be more willing to extend to others the grace God has given us.

Prayer: “Lord, unity is not natural; help me to live in mercy and truth so that in humility I can accept, love, listen to and “care-front” those around me, and thereby be more useful for you. Amen.”