The Dream Team

Hi, and thanks for joining us for today's encouragement from the Our Daily Bread devotional. I'm Kirsten Holmberg, and I titled our reading The Dream Team. Together, friends Melanie and Trevor have hiked miles of mountain trails, yet neither would be able to do so without the other. Melanie, born with spina bifida, uses a wheelchair.

Trevor lost his sight to glaucoma. The duo realized that they were one another's perfect complement for enjoying the Colorado wilderness. As he walks the trails, Trevor carries Melanie on his back.

Meanwhile, she gives him verbal directions. They describe themselves as a dream team. Paul describes believers in Jesus, the body of Christ, as a similar kind of dream team. He urged the Romans to recognize how their individual giftings benefited the larger group. Just as our physical bodies are made up of many parts, each with different functions, together we form one spiritual body, and our gifts are meant to be given in service for the collective benefit of the church. Whether in the form of giving, encouraging, or teaching, or any of the other spiritual gifts, Paul instructs us to view ourselves and our gifts as belonging to all the others.

Melanie and Trevor aren't focused on what they lack, nor are they prideful of what they do have in comparison to the other. Rather, they cheerfully give of their gifts in service to the other, recognizing how much they're both bettered by their collaboration. May we too freely combine the gifts God has given us with those of our fellow members for the sake of Christ. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Romans chapter 12, verses 3 through 8. For by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith. If it is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach. If it is to encourage, then give judgment. If it is giving, then give generously.

If it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Let's pray. Thank you, God, for the ways you've gifted us. Please show us how we can use our resources and abilities to benefit the body of Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening today. My name is Kirsten Holmberg, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.