January 30, 2012 - Perspiration

Last week I made the following statement: “Motivation must be a teammate of preparation and application through perspiration.” The devotion centered on the need to go beyond motivation and make sure that God’s Word, His Playbook, is an integral part of your day – every day!

The Christian life demands that we “prepare” by allowing God’s Word to transform the way we think. It is the equivalent of watching “game film” so one can analyze his own play, as well as understand the opponent. It is greatly rewarding as well as greatly humbling. It teaches, corrects, etc. The Scriptures make the promise of Itself to do these very things (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17) in order to help us have victory in the “game of life.”

Yet an athlete does not just watch game film. There has to be the “perspiration” mentioned in the opening statement. There has to be an application of the knowledge – which requires time and energy – which leads to perspiration.

Church I feel we spend time with the “game film” but way too little time with the perspiration of applying it. We are much like the Dead Sea. We have a live flow of water coming in but no outward flow – resulting in stagnation and death.

The typical response I get to this involves all the programs a church has for “outreach.” Yet that is not exactly what I am talking about. I am talking to us as individuals. Are we involved in other’s lives? Do we consider others as more important than ourselves? I am not asking if we have a scheduled time on our planners to “serve” and then feel good about ourselves. I am asking us to truly, daily exercise the mandates of Scripture to serve others!

My favorite basketball trainer is a guy named Jason Otter. He is phenomenal and worth every penny that people schedule with him for training. He often reminds players that they ultimately don’t need to pay trainers but instead need a personal work ethic that becomes part of their daily routines. Great players are not those that get occasional training, but those that have the game envelope their lives.

I am not opposed to church programs, I run some. But I am opposed to saying that is what being a servant looks like. You don’t schedule being a servant. Servanthood is an attitude created through the study of the Word, which transforms our minds to consider others as more important than self, which leads to a sacrifice of time and perspiration.

If we only worry about meeting needs when it is scheduled and we are delirious to other’s needs when it involves a loss of personal time, then I propose we are simply not being transformed by the Word. Transformation will result in perspiration/service.

Are you willing to be inconvenienced by others? Are you willing to not do something you planned to serve someone else?

We need to make sure that we are not just watching “Game Film” but also then stepping out onto the “court” in order to put forth the sweat of applying that knowledge to the “game.”

See - Mark 10:45, 1 Corinthians 9:19, 1 John 3:17-18

January 23, 2012 - Ignoring the Coach...

In our last devotion we spent our time looking at the element of motivation. We discussed the blowout win of Florida State over North Carolina that weekend and that Dickie V called it “humiliating.” Again he was not saying it was humiliating to lose to FSU (they are obviously a solid team as they beat Duke this week), but it was in the lack of effort/hustle on the part of the UNC players. He stated they had forgotten what it meant to wear the Carolina jersey.

From that we moved to the fact that we as Christians wear the name of Christ and that should motivate us to “play hard” in the game of life. We should strive to honor the name we bear. We ended at Ephesians 5:16 which tells us to take advantage of our time, to make every day count.

Well it is one thing to be motivated but there are other parts to the puzzle. Motivation must be a teammate of preparation and application through perspiration. A “player” must understand what is expected of him and then actually put it into action. Apart from the preparation you get “activity without achievement” (as John Wooden would say…)

When we see a team underperform it often causes fans to question the coach. Fans assume that players are actually doing what the coach has told them in the huddle or in practices. Well I can tell you as a coach, as a father, as a minster – “players” are very good at letting instruction come in one ear and out the other. “Players” often feel they have enough understanding on their own to do things their own way. After all a player that is in college basketball has been hearing coaching for maybe 15 years of his life. (Kind of makes them teen ballplayers. Are teens known for ignoring instruction and learning the hard way?)

Basically I want to remind us this week that we are in desperate need of instruction on a daily basis. We need to make God’s Playbook a priority in our lives. Not to just read it but to apply it.

I think back to that FSU/UNC game and the look on the coaches’ faces on the UNC bench. They were looks of frustration, confusion, and downright anger. I was really waiting for the coaches to start laughing at the players and pointing fingers at them. That seems harsh, but isn’t it ridiculous for those players to not listen to and trust their coaches. Were they not getting exactly what they asked for by allowing their pride to cause them to not listen? The fact is the coaches didn’t have to do the laughing and finger pointing; the evidence itself was doing that. There came a point in that game where the coaches simply wanted it to be over – it was past the point of learning and accomplishing anything.

Again as I write to Christians about our walks with the Lord I find it ridiculous that we ignore His instruction. Yes this week and last has brought us descriptions of “ridiculous” and “humiliating.” And the very nature of wisdom herself is laughing and pointing her finger at us. God’s Word stands on its own to implicate us of these things!

In Proverbs 1 we see some very harsh reminders of this:

²⁴ Because I have called and you refused,
I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
²⁵ Because you disdained all my counsel,
And would have none of my rebuke,
²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your terror comes,

Don’t ever ignore being in God’s Word or applying it to the “game.”