As coaches we want to mold our players to produce a championship team. We know that if each player accepts his role, believes in our plan, and executes it, then we will be positioned to win. But if the reliever wants to start and the lead-off hitter swings for the fences with two strikes, your chances for having a great season are slim. The greatest challenges a coach faces are to properly identify roles and to consistently encourage players to believe in the coaching staff, their teammates, themselves, and their assigned roles.

As players must be submissive to a coach and the role that best serves the team, we, as God’s children, must be submissive to Him and the role He wants us to play in the game of life. In order to be the best we can be, we must be malleable like the clay in Jeremiah’s vision.

Becoming malleable is difficult for players, coaches, and everyone else; yet when a player is malleable or “coachable,” positive changes take place. And as children of God, when we become team players on God’s team, serving in His kingdom, He will use us for His greater purpose. However, if we want to find ourselves enjoying the benefits of living under our heavenly Coach, we must allow ourselves to be malleable.