March 2, 2009 - An Extension of the Coach

As I look at the landscape of the church today I feel we have fallen victim to the world’s philosophies. Even as a church we are what I call a “Burger King and Microwave” society. We want everything our way and we want it now. And unfortunately that mentality often times overshadows wanting things God’s way and in His time.

The letter to the Colossians emphasizes not falling into these traps. The world’s philosophies will sneak up and take you captive. And if we don’t heed the warnings we will end up “lukewarm” in our walks. Just ask the Laodiceans. They heard the warnings in Colossians. (See Colossians 2:1 and 4:16) Then read the end of Revelation chapter 3 to see what happened. They developed “I-problems.” They became inward focused, sitting fat and sassy – unconcerned with reaching others.

So how do we avoid this? The answer is by being great “players.” The great players in basketball are those that see the floor well – they are fully aware of what is going on around them – they are not taken by surprise. They play the game “circumspectly” (See Ephesians 5:15; 1 Peter 5:8) – they see things others don’t see. They are skilled and understand their team’s playbook – which shows the intentions of the coach. Often you hear that a player like this is an extension of his coach.

As believers we need to be an extension of our Coach! We need to be fully equipped through Scripture study and memorization. That way we think like the Coach. (See Psalm 119 for the importance of God’s Word.) And we need to be aware of the things going on around us. We can not stick our heads in the sand. This is vital!

I have witnessed many athletic, talented, skilled players in my years on the basketball court. They were physically equipped to be great players. They studied hard and knew the plays. Yet they were not aware of the whole floor, becoming average ordinary players.

I recently read a passage in the devotional book Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success – (which I highly recommend.) The co-author of the book – Jay Carty – gave an account reminding us about Gideon’s army. Gideon began by choosing 32,000 for his army. By the time God finished having him whittle that number down there were only 300 warriors – to face an army "as numerous as locusts.” (Judges 7:12)

The final determination of who would go to battle – the men that kept their heads up when getting water – the men that stayed alert to possible enemy attack – the men who would not be taken by surprise! Read Judges 7 for this account.