Two Are Better Than One

The Navy Seals are special operations commandos that specialize in underwater demolition.  They are considered the “best of the best” – “the cream of the crop.”

One small portion of their training involves a 20-station obstacle course.  Each station requires the group to problem-solve in navigating an obstacle.  For example, one station requires the entire group to successfully scale a 7-foot wall.  One solution is to stack their ammo boxes at the bottom and hoist one person to the top of the wall.  The soldiers then pass the ammo boxes and other supplies up to this person so he can pull the others over the wall.

Other stations require the team to cross a simulated raging river or to successfully go across rugged terrain during simulated live fire.  These hazards simulate real-life combat situations requiring the group to work as a team.

One notorious exercise requires candidates to soak their boots, white T-shirts and trousers before wading into the ice-cold ocean.  Battling hypothermia, the recruits must remain in the water battered by waves for eight minutes.

Next, they exit the water and roll around in the sand.  They repeat this cycle five times.  Throughout this ordeal instructors harass the trainees with verbal barbs such as, “You can’t do it.  Why don’t you just quit?”  Many of them do give up.  The training is so rigorous that about 70% drop out of the program before finishing.

In each simulation the team earns or loses points based on elapsed time.  Throughout the program instructors emphasize and re-emphasize the importance of teamwork in navigating anticipated and unexpected obstacles.

Christians are meant to work together. There’s no place for the Lone Ranger in the Church. Listed below are five verses, among many others, that emphasize the importance of ministering together:

• “But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Matthew 18:16)
• “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20).
• “Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits” (Mark 6:7).
• “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go” (Luke 10:1).
• “About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray” (Luke 9:28).

While none of us are likely to go through Navy Seal training, we face many other hardships in life. No one gets through life unscathed. It’s at those times that we need to lean on one another.

Solomon said it well in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10. “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 man who falls and has no one to help him up!”

Have you been a “Lone Ranger Christian” – trying to go it alone in your faith? It’s a tough path to follow. Don’t try to go it alone. That road leads nowhere and brings nothing but trouble and heartache.

Start serving with others. Build relationships with your Christian brothers and sisters. Enjoy the fellowship God designed you to enjoy.

© 2011 Designed to Serve®