CHAPTER 8
UNITY AND THE POWER OF SYNERGY “Do not eat the food of a stingy man, do not crave his delicacies; for he is the kind of man who is always thinking about the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the little you have eaten and will have wasted your compliments.” Proverbs 23:6-8 (NIV)
W
hat nugget from this passage did Solomon feel was worthy of inclusion in his “top thirty”? It is the importance of unity. Let’s take a moment to discuss this example of someone who says they want you to enjoy yourself, but in reality, their heart is not for you at all. Unity is more than just agreement; it is actually a spiritual force. The Bible says, “One chases a thousand but two can chase ten thousand” (Deuteronomy 32:30). Wait a minute: the math we learned in first grade would have us believe that if one person can chase 1,000, then two can chase 2,000; yet, the scripture said two could chase 10,000! The term for this inexplicable multiplication of efficiency is “synergy.” Synergy, one of God’s special surprises, means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We see it in the physical world 37
