In my years of writing these devotions and of planning lessons, I have often talked of the importance of being “team first.” I have shared stories of coaches like John Wooden that wouldn’t even put the players’ names on the back of their jerseys because he wanted them to know that the team’s name on the front of the jersey was the one that mattered… I’ve shared stories of former teammates that couldn’t wait to look at the scorebook/stat sheet following games to see how they had done… and one story that came to mind was a teammate that was on the bus showing people the newspaper article that listed him as the leading scorer the night before… he was excited and I remember sitting in my bus seat thinking, “yeah, you got those points because I got the rebounds and got the ball out to you for all of those fast breaks!” (And yes, there was an exclamation mark on the thoughts in my mind that day… I was annoyed!)
Yet that is where the irony is… I easily have recalled those examples in others and ignored the ones in me… I recently thought about how often I couldn’t wait to grab the newspaper to see if there was a write-up on the previous night’s game with my name in it… In fact, after being frustrated with my teammate bragging about his name in the paper, I guarantee I opened it up on Sunday morning to see where I stood in the scoring list for the region. I so loved to see my name in print, that as a younger kid I would tear open the Sunday morning sports section each week to see if my name got mentioned in the listing of scores from the bowling alley’s Saturday morning league… I can even remember giving to the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon, not thinking about the kids that would be helped, but waiting for the local break when they would thank folks by name for their gifts or run the names across the ticker at the bottom of the tv screen… We are by nature very self-serving… we love to be noticed!
“Hypocrite, first remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Jesus’s words to me in Matthew 7:5)
John Wooden said, “You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.”
I do want us to mature as “players” to the point of not being concerned who gets the credit… I love watching unselfish teams/players that simply make the right plays in serving their teams.
More of Jesus’s words to us: “Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do… Assuredly, I say they have their reward.” (Matthew 6:2)
(Note: It is not wrong to be praised for “good play.” it is wrong to seek praise for “good play!”)
Let’s simply look to make the team better this week!
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