Devotional
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March 01, 2013
Set:
Pride is a state of mind vital for any champion to have—pride in yourself, your accomplishments, your team, and your school. But there is a flip side to pride—boasting and self-interest that can bring a championship-caliber team to its knees. So how does a coach ensure his or her team does not fall into the negative state of pride? Humility. Webster defines humility as modesty in self-examination and humbleness. For a Christian, the definition is simpler—to become like Christ. Jesus had every opportunity to boast and brag. After all, he was the Son of God.
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February 28, 2013
Set:
One of my favorite childhood memories came on my eleventh birthday, March 15, 1972. I received a gift that would set me head and shoulders above everyone else in the neighborhood. It was something that would make me the envy of all my friends. I received the coolest bicycle in the world—a real “big boy” bike. I’m telling you, it was so shiny and bright! It had a white frame with a blue glitter banana seat, blue glitter handles, and tassels. It was indeed the envy of all my friends. To top it off, it had blue tires. That bike made me the coolest kid in the neighborhood.
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February 27, 2013
Set:
Athletics are full of emotion. Excitement, enthusiasm, disappointment, happiness and joy are all part of the competitive experience. Paul reminded Christians at Philippi to rejoice in the Lord, and the message is the same for us today. But we live in a difficult world with real battles. As John 10:10 tells us, “A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy.” What is the thief after? Not anything that can be seen in the physical—no, he wants to steal the joy in our hearts.
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February 25, 2013
Set:
As a student-athlete in high school, the only thing that I liked about myself was my basketball ability. My self-worth was based completely on my performance on the court. Although I knew Christ, it took a lot of painful losing and poor performances for me once I got to college to realize that my self-worth was very skewed.
After I began to read the Bible more, I realized that none of the verses showed that God loved me any less based on my performance. I did, however, find many verses based on how God viewed me as His child.
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February 23, 2013
Set:
One day, the team was practicing when their coach had to leave for a minute. Once the coach was out of sight, the team started acting up and shooting half-court shots. Suddenly, out of nowhere they heard a voice say, ”I saw that.” One player made the comment, “Man, Coach must have eyes everywhere.” In sports, the eyes of a coach are always watching even when no one thinks they are looking.
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February 22, 2013
Set:
Practice isn’t always a player’s favorite thing to do. At times there are two-a-day practices or extra-long exercises to get a team organized. In the beginning, practices are hard and exciting, then when the squad is picked, the coaches focus on teaching plays.
We’ve all heard “practice makes perfect.” A better way to say it is, “practice makes permanent.” How a player performs in practice is how he or she will play in a game, thus, the player who gives a half-hearted effort in practice becomes ineffective at game time. That is why setting specific goals for practice is important.
The Apostle Paul said that every athlete should go into strict training to compete for a prize.
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February 21, 2013
Set:
Imagine there is a bank which credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day, and every evening when you lie down to sleep, it cancels whatever part of that amount you had failed to use during the day. And the only variable is that you don’t know when your bank will stop this process. So, what would you do? You would find a way to spend it, right?
In theory, we all have such a bank. It’s called “Time.” Every morning, God credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night God has to write off as a loss whatever you failed to invest toward a good purpose. This account will not carry a balance over, either.
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February 20, 2013
Set:
An imprint is a permanent mark—engraved, etched, impressed, or inscribed. As an 8 year old, I once had an opportunity to ride my brother’s motorcycle. Wanting to show how “big” I was, I took off recklessly. About 100 yards down the road, my front tire hit a hole. I flew through the air and landed in a ditch with the motorcycle on my back. Thankfully, as a result of being in the ditch, the muffler was the only part touching me. As the muffler burned through my shirt and my flesh, I experienced a world of hurt. I was branded! My brother rescued me, and I was banned from riding his bike. Even though that event happened 28 years ago, I still have a burn mark on my back. The muffler left its mark.
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February 19, 2013
Set:
In the ancient Middle East, there were three ways to obtain water. Digging a well was one way; carving out a cistern was another. Both required hard work and human energy. The third way came naturally, up through the earth, when a spring of water bubbled to the surface. We find in Scripture that such a spring became a picture of God’s grace and provision. Jesus told the woman at the well, “The water I will give him will become like a well of water springing up within him for eternal life” (John 4:14b).
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February 18, 2013
Set:
I recently went through a life-changing experience. After years of pain and struggle, I finally had a total knee replacement on my left knee. Before my surgery, everyone who’d gone through the same thing said having it done was a great decision. Today, one week after surgery, I am slowly beginning to believe that. The previous six days, however, have been marked with pain like I’ve never felt before. I’ve experienced new struggles that seemed unreasonable and have often been tempted to quit. All of this because of a change in my left knee.
