January 23, 2012 - Ignoring the Coach...

In our last devotion we spent our time looking at the element of motivation. We discussed the blowout win of Florida State over North Carolina that weekend and that Dickie V called it “humiliating.” Again he was not saying it was humiliating to lose to FSU (they are obviously a solid team as they beat Duke this week), but it was in the lack of effort/hustle on the part of the UNC players. He stated they had forgotten what it meant to wear the Carolina jersey.

From that we moved to the fact that we as Christians wear the name of Christ and that should motivate us to “play hard” in the game of life. We should strive to honor the name we bear. We ended at Ephesians 5:16 which tells us to take advantage of our time, to make every day count.

Well it is one thing to be motivated but there are other parts to the puzzle. Motivation must be a teammate of preparation and application through perspiration. A “player” must understand what is expected of him and then actually put it into action. Apart from the preparation you get “activity without achievement” (as John Wooden would say…)

When we see a team underperform it often causes fans to question the coach. Fans assume that players are actually doing what the coach has told them in the huddle or in practices. Well I can tell you as a coach, as a father, as a minster – “players” are very good at letting instruction come in one ear and out the other. “Players” often feel they have enough understanding on their own to do things their own way. After all a player that is in college basketball has been hearing coaching for maybe 15 years of his life. (Kind of makes them teen ballplayers. Are teens known for ignoring instruction and learning the hard way?)

Basically I want to remind us this week that we are in desperate need of instruction on a daily basis. We need to make God’s Playbook a priority in our lives. Not to just read it but to apply it.

I think back to that FSU/UNC game and the look on the coaches’ faces on the UNC bench. They were looks of frustration, confusion, and downright anger. I was really waiting for the coaches to start laughing at the players and pointing fingers at them. That seems harsh, but isn’t it ridiculous for those players to not listen to and trust their coaches. Were they not getting exactly what they asked for by allowing their pride to cause them to not listen? The fact is the coaches didn’t have to do the laughing and finger pointing; the evidence itself was doing that. There came a point in that game where the coaches simply wanted it to be over – it was past the point of learning and accomplishing anything.

Again as I write to Christians about our walks with the Lord I find it ridiculous that we ignore His instruction. Yes this week and last has brought us descriptions of “ridiculous” and “humiliating.” And the very nature of wisdom herself is laughing and pointing her finger at us. God’s Word stands on its own to implicate us of these things!

In Proverbs 1 we see some very harsh reminders of this:

²⁴ Because I have called and you refused,
I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
²⁵ Because you disdained all my counsel,
And would have none of my rebuke,
²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your terror comes,

Don’t ever ignore being in God’s Word or applying it to the “game.”