When we’re working with others, we need to be aware that everyone’s different. We might need to work with people whose gifting is different from ours, or maybe their personality doesn’t fit too well with ours. Maybe the way they prefer to do things is not the way we like to do them. Differences can cause tension. But they don’t have to. We can learn to understand other people, and then adapt how we relate to them so that we can work with them effectively. God has given us all different gifts. Just as the body has many different parts with many different functions, the people who make up God’s kingdom have differing gifts with different parts to play in His plan. The Bible says: ‘The body is not made up of one part but of many…Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it’ (1 Corinthians 12:14;27 NIV). Some people are good at admin, while others are great at being up on the stage. Some people are musical, while others are great at teaching. Whatever our gifts are, we need to understand that other people have different gifts. We need to respect the fact that they might not be able to do what we can, and vice versa. God didn’t just create us with differing gifts, He also gave us unique personalities. And sometimes we can find other personalities challenging to get along with. It’s important that we try to understand things from other people’s points of view, and know what they like and dislike. If we don’t take the time to try to understand others, we’ll struggle to be able to work with them. 

What Now?

Think about someone you struggle to get along with. Try and come up with three positive things about them, and ask God to help you understand them better.