As I was prepping for this week’s devotion, I was
reminded of a great scene I witnessed years ago at a high school basketball
open gym… it is one I am almost certain I have mentioned in a past weekly post,
but it is worth repeating. (Have posted well over 900 of these weekly devos,
so I’m sure there have been many repeat stories…)
I was in the gym with my dear friend Coach Mike Gurley;
Mike is a GREAT coach that gets the most out of his players! On this particular
occasion there was a young man that was a stud football player… strong and fast!
He got the ball and used his speed to get to an open lay-up. Gurley applauded
and yelled to the young man what a good play it was; then followed it up by
reminding the player that he is out there for his speed and defense… that he
could shoot lay-ups when they were available… and then reminded him that he was
not allowed to shoot outside shots because he simply wasn’t good at them… and
if he did he would be benched. I know that some of you are right now thinking that
seems harsh and that the kid was probably devastated and would never want to
play again…
Yet the reality is that players want to play for Coach
Gurley and are faithful to do their jobs within their giftings as the coach
sees fit. You see, after telling the player those things, Coach Gurley followed
it up with, “But I love you though!” Everyone chuckled a bit, but everyone also
trusts that Coach is on their side!
I thought about that story, which happened probably 7 or
8 years ago, because I was thinking about “players” in life being faithful to
the task before them. It came up last weekend as we were ministering in Daytona
Beach at a church. One our young guys in Next Man Up (our worship team) mentioned
how thankful he was to meet John, one of my dear friends at the church where we
were serving. He mentioned that he noticed how faithful John was to serve and
make things happen. He saw John doing a lot of stuff that wouldn’t show up in
the “box score.”
That was followed by this past weekend serving at a
church in Tampa, where my wife made note of a young man that reminded her of
her dad. This was because she was hearing all the stuff the young man was doing
at the church… hearing of his faithfulness to his calling. The young man’s name
is Jesse and he and his wife serve leading youth, directing music, taking care
of broken stuff, leading/organizing special events, etc. Believe me, when my
wife puts someone on par with her daddy, that is BIG!
As I was studying in Romans 12 there is a section about the
team... the body… playing one’s role… here are some of the things I was taking note
of in that study:
Vs 3 – tells us to think clearly about ourselves and especially
the “measure of faith” that was “dealt” to us… the Greek word for faith is
Pistis, and is often translated as faith or belief, but also carries the idea
of faithfulness, which makes a lot of sense in context with the idea of being
faithful to the role the Coach (God) is putting us in…
Vs 4 – states we don’t all have the same function or
office… we are given different roles
Vs 5 – reminds us that we have different gifts to help us
fulfil those different roles
Bottom line is that God reminds us often that He loves
us; in turn let’s be faithful to do our jobs and serve the team (the church)! This
section reminding us to be faithful is immediately in context of explaining
what is the “good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (See vs 2)
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