May 11, 2009 - Shooters Shoot

“Don’t mistake activity for achievement.” (Coach John Wooden)

Sometimes we are so busy being busy that we aren’t accomplishing very much. Last week the devotion centered on the idea of “moving without the ball.” The jest of the devo was that scorers have to get ready before they ever get the ball – feet set, hands up, etc.

Yet it is not just movement – it has to be intentional, purposeful movement! I have often told players to stop standing around only to have them run around aimlessly. I have often taught players a play only to see them make their cuts without even looking for the ball.

The whole purpose of plays and movement is to find openings. It should be very intentional – have purpose.

Often our churches are full of activity – yet not always achievement. There was a big push in the recent past for a thing called lifestyle evangelism. The idea was to let your testimony do the witnessing for you. The basic idea was that we just need to live our lives in a proper way and that will draw people.

(Now don’t get me wrong – our testimonies are important – just read last week’s devotion where I talk about our testimonies being the thing that sets our feet to take good shots. If you have a poor testimony, you at best can take unbalanced shots.)

Yet let’s not mistake activity for achievement. To not look for specific openings to share the Gospel is like running around on the court and never looking to score. You may dribble well, pass well, etc. Yet the game is won by scoring points.

As the church/individuals we need to become intentionally evangelistic! We need to take inventory of the things we are doing and see where or if the Gospel is going out. I recently visited my home in Indiana. One of the things on my agenda was to present the Gospel again to my parents. I had the week before preached a sermon at a funeral. It gave me a great platform to share from. I opened up by talking to my folks about their desires for where they will be buried, funeral arrangements, etc. I then asked, “And what about eternity? Where would you like your reservations to be?” It was a simple, intentional way to again go into the Gospel!

We’ve got to take some shots with the Gospel! I have a simple philosophy as a coach: Shooters shoot!

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)

And remember that you will miss 100% of the shots you don’t take!