Last week we posed the questions of “Where do I fit?” and “Am I good enough?” The idea was to realize that our place on God’s team, and those we offer the gift of a place on God’s team, is based solely on the realization and acceptance of Jesus being “good enough” and offering Himself in our place! Thus, we talked about the idea of the Gospel truth of “Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me!”
Yet once we are on the team, it only makes sense to want to play according to our new team’s Playbook… This week I shift from the realization that I am on the team, not based upon how good I am, but that now I want to strive to honor God with how I play the game… and this week’s truth came to me as I heard an old country song from George Strait… which I will get to shortly…
First picture with me a player going to a new team… a new coach… with a new philosophy. The player will have to immerse himself in the playbook and spend as much time on the court with his new team as possible. It would be really difficult if that player said, “I’ll play with my new team on some days and with my old team on others.” It would be difficult to not get confused…
CHURCH IS IMPORTANT! And by that I do not mean simply the idea of what folks we happen to attend the same services with on Sundays, but instead the idea of a group that is like-minded… heading in the same direction… following the same Playbook… where we do this thing called life together! There is accountability and encouragement… there is an expectation of giving your best.
This is the idea of “not being unequally yoked” (see 2 Corinthians 6:14); the verse in our English uses the word “unbelievers” (which is absolutely accurate in the context), but as I looked up the word it also carries the idea of the unfaithful… anyone who at the time is not trusting God and thus “running the plays of the old team.” And the idea of being “yoked” is the idea of who your teammates are…
This is not a call to ignore unbelievers/the unfaithful, but instead to not partner or team with them. I think of some of the friends I have from the past that I love dearly, yet do not spend a lot of time with… this is because I find myself thinking about or even wanting to “run old plays” with them. It changes my game perspective.
I mentioned George Strait who philosophized that “all my exes live in TX, and that’s why I hang my hat in TN.” In the song he even mentioned that “it has been rumored that I died, but I’m alive and well in TN.”
He understood in this song that he needed some separation and a new start… he died to the old and was alive with the new...
A new team… new way of thinking… and thus a new way of playing… involves the right kind of teammates!
Ephesians 4:22-24 That you PUT OFF, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you PUT ON the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
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