As I was sitting here prepping for this week’s devo it was a bit bittersweet… I thought back to an exciting time in my oldest son’s life. Clay was 15 years old and had not been able to play travel ball up to that point; we simply couldn’t afford it (financially and due to time constraints.) Yet I knew for his potential college recruitment he would need to play at that level; therefore, I told him to start looking for teams to try-out for (and to pray for a sponsored team to ease the costs.)
Shortly thereafter I got a call from Clay asking if I could take him to a try-out that afternoon. It was for a Jordan brand sponsored team… coached by MJ’s brother. So we cleared the schedule to head to the try-out…
I dropped Clay off and took the rest of the family shopping while he was at the gym. When I returned to pick him up I was greeted by another one of the parents that stated, “There’s no doubt that Clay will make the team, he lit up the gym!” Needless to say, we were very optimistic and very excited. In very short time we received a call extending an invitation for Clay to be a part of the Carolina Surge; and the excitement just grew as uniforms came in (especially those Jordan kicks which we still have.)
There was incredible joy in being a part of that team… along with great expectations and responsibilities. (The bittersweet feelings are due to the fact that he tore his ACL in just their 3rd tourney of the year and didn’t get to fully enjoy his time on the team.
This came up in my mind as I was reviewing notes from teaching on Romans 6 this past weekend. I was at The Bold Grace Summit and being reminded of the joy of being a part of God’s team… a part of the body… a part of the “one new man” of both Jew and Gentile being together…
I could go on a long time on this but the basic idea that prompted my thinking is found in Romans 6:11, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Coaches spend a lot of time reminding players to play for the name on the front of their jerseys… the team they belong to. Paul, here in Romans, is emphasizing the privilege and responsibility of being a part of “the team.” And he reminds us of a couple of things…
1.
To reckon (consider, meditate on, take account,
calculate) our need to be “dead to” or to avoid sin that tears us down… but
instead to be active (“alive”) in the game of life
2.
To realize our new identity as part of God’s
family… he states that we are “in Christ Jesus our Lord” - the preposition “in” denotes a “fixed
position” – in other words, we belong to God!!!
It may sound silly to some, but when we designed the silhouette of Christ logo for InBounds it was with idea of “branding”; our way of telling the world we are a Jesus-brand ministry… I guess that is why I so often am found in one of our ministry shirts… I love celebrating being a part of the team!!!
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