October 17, 2022 - Reading The Playbook Correctly

As a player, I loved looking at the playbook and seeing what plays were designed for me… when I was getting the ball and getting to score… it bolstered my pride and also made me know the coach believed in me.

I have often taught from that second perspective, reminding believers that the Coach believes in us and loves us and has planned on our behalf… Yet there is a danger in just focusing on that idea. As a player it could lead to pride, especially if there were a lot of plays designed that way AND if we get caught up in the notion that the one who scores is the star.

What if a player only studied the playbook to see what personal gain there is… ignoring the plays where he is responsible to set the pick or maybe even be a decoy… or maybe it is a play designed for when he is not even in the game? In these plays it is important to not miss an assignment… or even to just be an encourager from the bench remembering that the team practiced together to prepare one another for this play.

What if we started reading The Playbook with the idea of focusing on the team instead of as an individual? I think we will find that MANY of the passages we tend to read as geared toward the individual are actually team-centered…

Abraham was blessed as an individual in that there would become a great nation (team) [Genesis 12:2]… there is the oft-quoted Jeremiah 29:11 where there is the promise that God has “thoughts of peace” and a promise of “a future and a hope”… yet this was a promise to Israel (the team) not to the individuals (in fact it was on a 70+-year delay… read vs 10)…

And then one of my favorites is Ephesians 2:10: For we (plural, the team) are His workmanship (singular, one masterpiece or work of art), created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Let’s read The Playbook and look at life with the idea of how we work together as one in Christ! Let’s read it for “we not me!” Let’s make the team the star of the show… (next week I plan to share a beautiful reminder I heard at a conference about how we live and serve together as a team…)