Have you ever heard the old cliché, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts?” The whole is greater than the sum of its parts because there is synergy in the combination of our lives.

Synergy is another way of capturing the Biblical principle about the body of Christ. When we put our gifts together we will have more than enough, more than our individual selves could dream of on our own. Romans 12:3-5 says, “Be honest in your estimate of yourselves… Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others” (NLT). Together, We Are More Than Enough!

The Bible teaches that no one person can do it all. If fact, to try to do everything on our own goes against God’s design. We are over-estimating ourselves when we do not combine our efforts with others. And more importantly, we lose the effectiveness of the synergy that is formed when we team together in purpose.

The path therefore to having more than enough is to operate in areas of our individual strengths and allow others to operate in theirs. If we try to carry more than our share, we will bottleneck the process. Others will not be given the opportunity to participate with God and grow in their faith. We stunt our abilities and stifle our growth. Resources will seem scarce and we will operate in a feeling of poverty versus abundance.

To unleash our abundance each one of us must discover our individual giftedness and begin to make the most of it by blending it with others. Romans 12 goes on to say in verses 6-8, “God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out when you have faith that God is speaking through you. If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly” (NLT).

If you are ready to move from a “less than” to a “more than” mentality and become part of a greater purpose, begin by discovering your giftedness.

Start with the Spiritual Gifts Assessment.

Once you have an idea of what God has given you, use it! Match your gifts and passion to a ministry team and see the fruits of a life lived in synergy. “God has given gifts to each of you from God’s great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God’s generosity can flow through you” (1 Peter 4:10, NLT). Through a team approach you will discover and utilize your God-given ability and you will find more than enough time, more than enough resources, more than enough love. And our whole will be greater than the sum of its parts as we find more than enough to meet all of the ministry needs.

As we team together we will transform our lives and transform the world to achieve the purpose we were God-designed to do!