March 12, 2012 - The Wisdom of Fundamentals

Recently I was in a mtg. discussing the present campaign a church is doing. They are in the midst of Saddleback’s 40 Days in the Word, which is a program designed for combatting Biblical illiteracy in the church. The gentlemen I was speaking with were stating that some people thought the campaign was “watered down” and “too elementary.”

My response was that the intent was to be “elementary.” Often times in life we have to get back to the basics, the fundamentals. When coaching I said it this way, “Fundamentals are the anchor that will hold in the storm.”

I was so set on this that I started every year with the most basic of fundamental drills. I treated every team as though we needed to start over from the ground up. (Of course some guys like John Wooden had similar ideas…)

Was there murmuring amongst the players? - Of course, every year. They wanted to get moving; they wanted to scrimmage. Yet if I believed what I was saying that these fundamentals are foundational to everything else, then we needed get back to them… And the amazing thing was that once we got back into the fundamentals there was always a lot of correcting that needed to take place where players were too loose with the ball, improper footwork, bad habits shooting, etc.

One of the things I have loved in the 40 Days campaign is the reminder that God is in the business of revealing Himself in Scripture, not concealing Himself. We make things way too difficult in our approach. It is time to get back to the basics.

Pastor Warren started one of his messages with the reminder that we need to “build on” the Word of God in our lives – It is intended to be our foundation. Often times, especially those of us that are “veteran” players, we feel like we’ve got it all down.

Jesus said it this way in Matthew 7: ²⁴ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:

The Psalmist said it this way in Psalm 119: ²⁰What I want most of all and at all times is to honor your laws.

I love that verse (and the way Rick Warren described it: What I want most is the be a man of the Word!)

Side note: remember my quote about the fundamentals being the anchor for the storm? When Jesus talked about the “wise man…house…built on the rock”, He followed with thefollowing reminder:

Matthew 7: ²⁵ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

You, and I, will face storms! The question is will we stand?