February 27, 2023 - PUSH THE PACE!

Way back in 1980, I remember being in Bible class at Mill Road Christian School… I honestly don’t remember a lot about that class other than the first memory verse we were given: I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14

I guess that was a prelude to the ministry I would end up in all those years later… centering around athletic themes… press… toward… goal… prize

(NOTE: before I dive into this week’s devo, let me give a disclaimer to what this verse is not saying… it is not stating that one receives salvation as a reward for service… in fact the word prize is a word that was used metaphorically as a heavenly reward for Christian character…)

This verse is part of a discourse on how to effectively “play the game” --- one in which Paul how he is not resting on the laurels of his past, nor being discouraged by the shortcomings (as he admits he was not yet “perfected”/totally mature – vs 12)… but instead keeps pressing on!

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)

The Message paraphrase: “I’ve got my eye on the goal… I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.”

Although I know the past can give us a good education, it is dangerous to spend too much time looking back at it… or as one phrase I copied to my notes last year put it: Don’t let the rearview mirror be bigger than the windshield!

These verses call us to forward progress! In my mind I envision an uptempo game plan that puts the opponent on his heals! I picture the first varsity game I was a part of at Statesville Christian School back in 2005… and every time the other team got the ball… BAM!... they were up the court; it put so much pressure on us… (of course the other team’s point guard was Ty Lawson, who ended up putting pressure on many teams at the high school level… while playing for North Carolina in college… and pushing the pace in the NBA! I didn’t see Ty looking backwards very often…)

PUSH THE PACE… let’s get after it toward the goal!

February 20, 2023 - NIL

Lately, my mind has circled around the new NIL world of college athletics… partially because it is talked about so much in the media, and mostly because my daughter, who is being recruited as a college athlete, is also being courted for potential NIL deals…

NIL stands for Name/Image/Likeness, and the rule basically says an athlete has the right to capitalize off of his/her name, image, and likeness. Yet in the midst of it all, I loved when Dabo Swinney had to say about the Clemson football program in a news conference: He stated that they were built on “God’s name, image, and likeness…” Likewise, InBounds Ministries is starting to use that terminology in our Taylor-Made Investment scholarships… BUT WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE?

Ephesians 5:1 states: “Therefore be imitators of God dear children.” (Ephesians 5:1)

An “imitator” is obviously one that wants to reflect a likeness… so what does that look like when fleshed out? Well, the Bible didn’t leave us hanging on that…

Simply put: “…walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” (Ephesians 5:2)

It all starts with lives that are characterized by love… giving of oneself… being an offering and sacrifice…

When given our spiritual NIL command it demands we make others a priority… to the point of sacrifice in our lives. This made me think of a statement my wife heard that said something along the lines of… instead of telling people you don’t have time to help them, try spitting out the words “sorry, you are not a priority to me.” I think we would choke on those words, but if we would start being honest, maybe we would change our tune and start imitating our sacrificial Savior…

February 13, 2023 - NEXT LEVEL

Today is our last day of our trip to Budapest before heading back to the States… for the last 2 days I have been able to teach about the same topic, which I will get to shortly…

There have been many times over the years that I have had talks with athletes about their desires to play at the next level. At times it is an easy talk… when a player has a realistic view of his/her abilities. At other times it is a very difficult because some players have an inflated view of their abilities/athleticism. And it becomes really hard when I have to be honest and tell an athlete that he/she is simply not good enough for the next level…

The bad news of religion is that leaders try to tell people that they can be good enough, or promise to get better, to get to the next level BUT the Scriptures are clear that none of us are, or ever will be, good enough! (Romans 3:23)

I know I share this truth often here, and I hope you never get tired of hearing it… it is not only our means for justification but also our motivation sanctification!

The good news is that the message to Nicodemus (a religious leader)… to the Rich Young Ruler (who had social status)… to the Samaritan woman (who had a shaky nationality and a shaky past)… to the shepherds (who were the lowest class)… was that Christ, the Lord, was born as the Savior… unassuming… approachable… to pay for our forgiveness, give new life and a new identity!

The last couple of weeks I’ve had the joy of sharing this message with folks from all parts of the world… from different social classes… etc. Today, we shared with Ukrainian refugee students… yesterday it was a church that target serving the homeless… the past week it was students at an international Christian school… WHAT A PRIVILEGE TO SHARE! WHAT A PRIVILEGE TO HEAR! WHAT A PRIVILEGE TO KNOW!

Getting to the “next level” is all about what He did for us!

Getting to the “next level” is because of His worthiness!

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might me made the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:20-21)             

Let’s get busy sharing the next level message!!!

February 6, 2023 - Is John Stockton the GOAT?

Man did I drop the ball this week… I am in Europe serving in Budapest and was laying in bed last night and realized what day it was… not only was I late on writing the Monday game plan, I was not even paying attention to what day it was. I guess the jet lag has won the battle this trip…

For this week, being late did allow some sports history to take place that fit beautifully into the messages/theme we have had while on our current mission… news that brought about more discussion on who is the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) in basketball… Last night (or this morning in the time zone I am in) Lebron James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time leading scorer in  NBA history, and Lebron potentially has a few years left of adding to his total. That record has stood for almost 40 years, and the other AMAZING thing is that Lebron also is in 4^th place on the all-time assists list…

This devo is not to argue if Lebron is the GOAT, as haters are gonna hate and lovers are gonna love… and there are valid arguments for a few players to hold that title. (AND BY THE WAY, IF A PLAYER IS TRULY IN THE DISCUSSION, HE IS PRETTY STINKIN GOOD!)

But if Jesus were asked who is the GOAT of basketball, He may have a very different answer (and I say this “tongue in cheek”)… maybe He would list a player that never is in the GOAT discussion…

Luke 22:26 “But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be… he who serves.”

Maybe Jesus would say that the GOAT is John Stockton… the all-time leader in NBA assists… he retired with 15, 806 assists, and if you add his total personal points scored he was responsible for the production of well over 50,000 points!

In the game of life we see that the greatest came to earth to serve…

Luke 22:27 “… Yet I am among you as the One who serves.” (Jesus)

And He humbled Himself and served “and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8b)

You wanna be great? SERVE!