That’s Not Fair!

Athletes often find themselves asking for fair treatment, especially when they perceive that they are getting the short end of the stick (i.e. less money than a “comparable” player). We hear them whine and pout, sometimes threaten to skip practices and/or games, and in general be a negative influence on their teams.

Peter knew what it was like to feel this way. He was told by Christ that he would he would be crucified for his faith (John 21:18-19). He quickly wanted to compare his fate to his fellow disciple John. Jesus told Peter “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” (John 21:22). Job is another example of circumstances not seeming fair. Job had practically every worldly thing taken away from him including his children. Job’s friends accused him of sinning against God and his own wife told him to curse God and die.

We may wish we had someone else’s circumstances sometimes, but that is not our decision to make. Proverbs 16:9 states that “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” The next time you start to bemoan your circumstances, remember that God has allowed your circumstances for a purpose...regardless of how unfair they may seem...because He allowed his Son to come to bring you life more abundantly (John 10:10).

Wanna Second Chance?

I had the opportunity to watch the Texas Rangers beat the Boston Red Sox earlier this week. Our seats were in right field, so we got to watch Josh Hamilton up close. For those of you who don’t know, Josh Hamilton’s story is quite amazing (text, video). Mr. Hamilton spent over 2 years out of baseball due to drug and alcohol addictions and returned to become a great major league player. He now uses his story to share his faith in Christ with others.

The Bible lets us know that God is a fan of second chances. The parable of the prodigal son is certainly a reminder of this, but there are actual accounts in the Bible as well. Samson lost his strength after giving into the whims of an ungodly woman, but God allowed his strength to return to show God’s glory. Peter denied Christ 3 times, yet was given the privilege of preaching a sermon where 3,000 were saved. Saul lost his sight while traveling to Damascus to kill Christians, but God restored his sight allowing him to become one of the greatest apostles responsible for many of the New Testament churches.

It is has been said that the way back to God is to just turn around. He is slow to anger and delights in mercy. Will you accept His mercy and return to His love today?

Freedom Isn’t Free

Many Americans this past weekend celebrated the anniversary of our country’s Declaration of Independence. However, this isn’t the most important freedom afforded to us. Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection provide freedom from eternal death and torment in the lake of fire. We often remember our soldiers on government established holidays....how often do we remember what God has done for us?

America was not satisfied with being the only free country in the world. America has come to the aid of Europe on several occasions and even helped rebuild countries that once warred against it (e.g. Germany, Japan). Likewise, Christians are not to be simply be satisfied with gaining their own freedom....Christians are called to be shining examples to the world of what living in God’s freedom looks like. In addition, Christians are tasked with proclaiming the truth that God has made evident in their lives.

So, let us be thankful for those who fought (and are fighting) for America’s freedom. Let us also give thanks to Christ for providing our ultimate freedom. Then we need to take the actions we are called to by our American and Christian citizenships.

Forget “Be Like Mike”…“Be Like Jackie”

April 15th is Jackie Robinson day which acknowledges the significant accomplishments and cultural advancements resulting from the career of the first African American Major League Baseball player. Mr. Robinson was a gifted baseball player that suffered many racial insults because of the color of his skin. Today remembers his career and his family’s impact in life after baseball are a result of many years of perseverance and hard work.

Christians should also expect to face insults and persecution in this world. Christ said “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own…you do not belong to the world…that is why the world hates you” (John 15:18-19). We are told in 1st Peter 3:9 “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” Furthermore, “It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.” (1st Peter 3:17)

Therefore, remember that we should expect troubles to come AND that we have been given our orders in regards to how to respond to suffering and persecution. Psalm 23:4 states “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”….it is not a matter of if we will walk in the valley, but how many times, for how long, and how will we respond. The beautiful thing about this we are told up front the reward for obedience…“Humble yourselves to the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:10).

What’s Your Go-To Play?

You often hear about teams having their backs against the wall when facing adversity. Teams will often focus on the one thing they can do better than anyone else to try to overcome these times of adversity. This single-minded focus can help the team regain its swagger by focusing on doing only things that have become second nature…things that they know will come through no matter the situation.

A lot of us have our backs against the wall right now…whether it is our finances, job, health, struggles with family and/or friends…so what are we supposed to do? Fortunately, there are some examples of what to do in difficult times. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were tossed into a fiery furnace because they refused to bow to the golden image of King Nebuchadezzar (Daniel 3). Job lost his wealth and children…all his friends and his wife told him to curse God and die.

So, you might be asking yourself, “Why would people still believe in God with all these troubles?” Remember that people go back to what they know they can trust in times of trouble. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego told the King “we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter...the God we serve is able to save us…even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods…” Job said in the midst of his troubles “I know that my Redeemer lives and the end the end he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25). Christ told us “come to me, all you who weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30)...so why don’t we take Him up on it today?

Being Matt Cassel

Can you imagine having to sit on the sidelines for 7 years before getting your big chance? Matt Cassel of the New England Patriots can. He can because he went to USC to be the quarterback for one of the great college football teams in the country. Instead, Cassel learned that he would be standing on the sidelines while Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart were leading the Trojans and winning Heisman trophies. He saw Carson Palmer get drafted as the number 1 overall pick in the 2003 NFL draft and Leinhart follow by being selected number 10 overall in 2006. Cassel was drafted (pick number 230 overall) by the New England Patriots in 2005. Most folks thought the Patriots were razor thin at quarterback and doomed to fail when Tom Brady got injured during the first game of the season. Admittedly, Cassel has grown into the position over the past 10 weeks...but who would have thought that he would be 1 of only 5 quarterbacks in the history of the NFL to pass for over 400 yards in 2 consecutive games and that the Patriots would have a winning record while both Palmer (injury) and Leinart (due to Kurt Warner's great play) have been on the sidelines for weeks?

So, what's Matt Cassel got to do with anything relating to God? Directly, he may or may not (as I don't know him or his relationship with Christ)...but I'll give you some examples of men God used for extraordinary purposes after waiting in what seemed to be everyday activities. David was tending his family's sheep when Samuel came to anoint him as the next king of Israel (1 Samuel 16:6-13). God waited until Moses was 40 years old to deliver his plans for Moses by speaking to him from the burning bush (Exodus 3:2-4). Peter and Andrew were just doing their jobs when Jesus came and recruited them to be His disciples.

The bottom line is, we never know when God is going to come calling with His new mission for us (Proverbs 16:9). All we can do is to be faithful with what we have been given, have open ears, and a pure heart...and be ready to play when God calls our number, just like Matt Cassel was ready for the Patriots.

Wish Lists

Do you ever just let your mind wander and let your imagination be a Christmas catalog? Once we start down that road, it is real easy to keep going and going. Instead, we are to be happy with what we have been given. I know that it is easy to get wants and needs mixed up sometimes...a fan may want his team to win by 100, but all the team needs to win is one more point than their opponent. Similarly, a player may want to hit a home run every time he steps up the plate...but sometimes a walk will work just fine.

Don't get me wrong here...I'm not saying that nice things or wish lists are automatically bad. However, we can get our priorities out of line and place our wish lists in front of God's plan for our lives. Before we get self-righteous and say “I deserve this”, remember that “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps (Proverbs 16:9)”. Jesus told his us God the Father “knows what you need before you ask him (Matthew 6:8)...and Paul told us that “God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19)”. Jesus also told the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:16-21) where the rich man planned to do everything for his own benefit without consulting God...he wound up losing his life that very night. Let us be thankful for God giving us what we need and be in constant communication with Him to use what He has given for the benefit of His kingdom.

The Closer's Mentality

For those of you not as familiar with baseball, the closer is the pitcher who usually comes in the 9th (or last) inning to protect the lead. Perfection is the standard for pitchers chosen to serve as a closer for a team. However, no closer is perfect…they can often make fans nervous by giving up hits and home runs even when they are successful... they even sometimes lose the game all together. If you ask any successful closer what is the secret to being able to go after the next hitter or save the next game, you'll hear a strikingly similar refrain...you have to have a short memory and focus on the hitter that is at bat (or the game that is being played that day). In other words, it doesn't matter how bad (or good) things went the last time around…this time is what you can control right now.

Peter offers a great example of someone who had many captivating moments in his life (walking on water and then taking his eyes off Jesus in Matthew 14:28-30, denying Christ 3 times before His crucifixion in John 18:17-26, and speaking to the crowd the day 3,000 were saved in Acts 2:41...among others)…good and bad...that he could have gotten stuck on and not moved on to what he could control that moment. After all of this, Peter was able to preserve and have a short memory of his failings…this helped him to follow Christ all the way to dying on a cross himself (John 21:18). So, let's don't beat ourselves up over what happened 5 minutes, a day, a month, a year, or 5 years ago (Let me be clear here…I am not saying that we don't have to confess our sins to God)…but we need to be able to move on quickly in order to be effective in the only place we can take action…the present.

Perfect Games and Misdemeanors

Have you ever heard someone (maybe even yourself) talk about generally being a good person…not committing any of the "big" sins. The person makes it sound like their sins are misdemeanors and that the "big" sins are felonies that God cannot redeem. This just sounds plain silly to me (although I've been guilty of this thinking before myself). Have you ever seen a pitcher pitch a perfect game that just gave up a walk or an error instead of a game-losing home run? Anything less than perfection is not a perfect game and anything less than a life without sin is less than perfection.

Fortunately for us, God is able to forgive all sins…little ones, big ones, even seemingly unforgivable ones (John 3:16-18). The only sin that God will not cover is a person who never admits his sin and never accepts Christ as Lord to receive His gifts of salvation and eternal life. When people were ready to stone an adulteress, Christ said that he who has no sin should cast the first stone…and suddenly everyone accusing the woman was gone…Christ then told her to go and sin no more (John 8:3-11). Let's learn from this example in two ways: 1) being thankful for Christ's sacrifice, love, and mercy and 2) let us offer that mercy to others that has so freely been given to us.

Mental Toughness

Did you hear about Tiger Woods winning the US Open this weekend while fighting through knee pain? If so, you may have seen the new ad featuring Tiger's father talking about him. In the ad he says, "Tiger, I promise you that you'll never meet another person as mentally tough as you in your entire life. And he hasn't; and he never will." Maybe in his admiration for his son Earl Woods forgot about Jesus, who exhibited greatest mental toughness of all time, or made an obvious exception in his head.

I am sure hitting a golf ball through distractions, the pressure to win the US Open, and knee pain is quite challenging. However, I doubt that Tiger will ever have to play golf after having a spear stuck in his side or being nailed to a cross. Don't get me wrong, I respect the heck out of what Tiger did this past weekend (even more so now knowing that he will need season ending knee surgery)…but it wasn't nearly the punishment that Christ went through for us and it didn't save my soul. So, not only is God better than Shaft…he's also better than Tiger.

We should be overfilled with joy that Christ our Lord has the greatest mental toughness of all time. How wonderful is it for us to be able to rely on the great I Am who does not change in spite of difficult circumstances (Numbers 23:19)? When we trust in God and His resolve, He is able to accomplish great things for His kingdom regardless of how the situation looks at the time. The accounts of David slaying Goliath (1 Samuel 17), the account of the fiery furnace (Shadrach, Meschach, and Abendnego in Daniel 3), Paul on his missionary journeys, and the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:54-60) all show us how we can reflect God's mental toughness when we remain in Him.

Performance Enhancement

The words "performance enhancement" probably don't sit well with most folks these day. Those words likely bring to mind the steroid and human growth hormone scandals in professional sports…possibly even tarnishing baseball's greatest record. Others used these substances to get a chance to play in professional sports that they might not have had otherwise.

Christians need to be in favor of performance enhancement. I don't mean taking steroids or human growth hormone, but instead enhancing their relationship with almighty God. We go to great lengths to succeed in our careers, family life, and social circles…but how much effort do we place into having a closer fellowship with God. Trust me, the problem isn't on God's end…as my grandpa often told me, "We walk away from God, He doesn't walk away from us".

So, what can we do to enhance our performance? Well, we could just do the things that point toward success (reading the Bible, praying, attending to church) and look like we should be doing ok…but this doesn't guarantee success. Someone can go the batting cages or the weight room every day and not improve for at least three reasons: 1) they aren't trying to start with…they are just there to be seen; 2) they are satisfied with their current performance; or 3) they don't have goals set for themselves. Before you accuse me of being a Pharisee, I am not saying to read 6 chapters a day and pray 7 times each day come hell or high water just to do it. What I am saying is that success usually doesn't come without some type of a plan and the perseverance to follow through with it. The actual number of verses we read or how much time we spend on the "prayer clock" isn't what God wants…He wants us to allow Him to rule our lives. That's sounds really scary…because we like to be in control…but wouldn't you rather have almighty God, the greatest guide ever, to direct your steps?

Country Club Culture

Have you ever gone to church and think that you took a wrong turn and wound up at the country club instead? I’m not trying to run down dressing nice or church programs that develop Christians for service. However, there seems to be a mentality of “what am I going to get out of going to a church” out there.

The last time I checked “big church” was called a worship service. This means that we are coming together as believers to celebrate the almighty God of the universe. It is our chance to give a little back to Him out of the bountiful gifts that he has given us in acknowledgment of all of who He is and what He has done for us. Don’t get me wrong…God doesn’t need us to tell Him that He is great…we need these times to reminded of His greatness and His plans for us.

So, going to worship isn’t about how nice we look, what type of car we drive, or what types of church programs we lead. It is acknowledging how great God is and learning how we can allow Him to make us more like Christ…and lest we forget, Christ was welcomed to the world by dirty, raggedy shepherds (Luke 2:8-20), recruited a tax collector (Mark 2:14…tax collectors were hated back in the day), and saved a repentant criminal while on the cross (Luke 23:40-43). So let us think twice before we judge people for their wardrobe or their church attendance. Let us come instead to focus of the God that is the great Savior of our souls.