May 19, 2008 - They Don't Play Fair

This past Sunday I had the privilege of sitting under the teaching of one of my former pastors. He is a great communicator of God’s truths. My wife mentioned that she always gets something new from him, even if it seems like a small detail. Sunday was no exception. He took a passage from the book of Joshua and hit us between the eyes with a reminder about our responsibility as God’s children.

The basic jest of the story goes like this. The Israelites had soundly defeated Ai – or more precisely they had destroyed them. Word got around to the surrounding kingdoms and fear began to set in. As the kings looked at their options, the people of Gibeon decided to trick Israel in order to gain safety. Posing as foreigners from a far away land, when in fact they only lived around 24 miles away, they convinced Joshua and the leaders of Israel to make the treaty with them (even though God had warned Israel not to enter into a treaty with the neighbors.)

Once it was found out that the Gibeonites had deceived the people of Israel, the leaders were left with a couple of choices. One, they could break the treaty and destroy Gibeon. Two, they could uphold their promise of the treaty.

As the men of Israel approached the towns where the Gibeonites were from, they did not attack. But wait a minute, the Gibeonites lied to them. They deceived them. The treaty was not valid because the other guys didn’t play fair. Yet the Scriptures are clear as to why the Israelites did not attack.

Joshua 9:18 - But the children of Israel did not attack them, because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by the LORD God of Israel…

You see the leaders understood a simple principle as God’s children. We are not responsible for how others “play the game.” We are only responsible for our own “play.”

They remind me of John Wooden’s philosophy concerning his teams. He said that they didn’t do a lot of scouting and worrying about the other team. They keyed on being the best UCLA team they could be.

Yet today we look for every loophole we can to get out of contracts and other agreements. Whether it be a business deal or a marriage, we tend to place our decisions on how the other person(s) is “playing.”

Can I simply be the voice of encouragement, or rebuke if need be? Stop looking at everyone else and key on your commitments and oaths you have made before the Lord!

As I performed a wedding ceremony this past Saturday I used the following words that were part of a ceremony in my minister’s manual: “Covenant Love.” I reminded the couple that their vows were not made with conditions. There was no “I promise to..if…”

How is your business life? How are you doing with your marriage vows? Are you a man or woman of your word?

I’m sure some want to write me back and say, “But Todd, you don’t know the situation I am in.” Can I lovingly say this? I care about you and your feelings and your comfort level in life. Yet in some ways I don’t care. I don’t care what others are doing, you’re responsibility is before the Lord to be a man or woman of your word!