As a young athlete, we all get excited and dream of being the one who
throws the winning touchdown, catching it, hitting the homerun with 2 out in the
ninth, or making the game winning shot with two seconds left. “We win!” And it
is me that made the difference! While on the other side, a lineman almost got
to the quarterback, a safety almost intercepted it, a pitcher almost blew one by
the batter, and the last shot was almost blocked. Winners and losers based on
one brief moment in a contest, neglecting the other 59 minutes of the game, the
other 3 and a 1/2 quarters, and the other 39 minutes of the game. We are
focused on that one moment in time, the one that makes the difference, all the
rest are forgotten. And like in life, one key play seems to make the
difference, we just don’t find out until after the game is over.
I played on some very good basketball teams, our freshman team was
unbeatable. We were beating competitors by 40-50 points, and every player on
the team got to play. We were unbeatable it seemed, and our egos showed it. We
had done all we wanted to do, except score 100 points in a game. We had come
close, but never reached it. Finally in a game against Maxon, we were close,
and the coach let the starters in, including me. We were hot, stealing,
rebounding missed shots, and not missing most of our own. But as the final
seconds ticked away, it looked hopeless, as the Maxon coach didn’t want the
embarrassment of having 100 points scored against him. So with two seconds
left, we had the ball, and I was fouled. On purpose, as I was an OK foul
shooter, just not the best. And in their minds the best risk. And at 99
points, all we could see was the 00 showing up on our scoreboard, there was no
room for a 100 point game, so 100 would show as 00. And it was laid upon me to
make it happen. The dream I had lived over and over in my mind was here in
front of me. The crowd was crazy, my team mates were cheering, but I was
scared. And my first shot of two was nothing but air. If the basket had been
only 18” closer, but it wasn’t and I missed everything...except the floor
below. Now really scared, the crowd got louder, and my last chance at glory, to
be remembered as the one who scored the 100th point, or missed the 100th point,
was about to happen. Lining it up, I remembered the three rules to foul
shooting, fingertip control, back spin, and follow through. And as the ball
left my hands, it looked good, but seemed to take forever. And then, nothing
but net! I had made the shot! The scoreboard showed 00, the fans went crazy,
and my team mates mobbed me. I was a hero, forget about the other 99 points, I
had scored the 100th, and that would be the one that would be remembered. If
only they knew how close I had come to obscurity...
Now missing the first shot was humbling, missing the next shot would have
been humiliating. It seemed all my skills, all the practice shots, and all the
personal efforts would have meant nothing if I had missed the shot. Now Paul
was no basketball player, but was a star in his own right. As a Pharisee, head
of the Sanhedrin, and a powerful Jewish man, he had held the jackets of those
who stoned Stephen. He had run amok dragging Christians from their homes and
persecuting them. He knew the law, was driven by it, and found no place for
Christ in it. Until one day when Jesus appeared to him, and his whole world
changed. But based on his training, he now hoped to witness to the Jews, and
save the very ones who he represented at one time under the law. Humbled by
God, he was about to be humiliated, as the plan for his life was to minister to
the Gentiles, the ones he believed were made for the fires of hell. None of his
religious training would help him now, without the spirit he would fail. And
fail he did, as one night he has to be smuggled over a wall, in a basket, by his
new brothers in Christ, his old Jewish friends wanting to kill him. He left the
city in utter defeat, rejection, humiliation, and failure. What he had set out
to do on his own led to his failure. Which he would record later was a changing
point in his life, and how humiliation had humbled him, brought him closer to
Jesus. He would go on to write that this failure had made him see how he could
no longer be his own man, and that without Jesus he would be able to do
nothing. He was about to learn first hand that Jesus doesn’t need your
abilities, but your availability! And that we can do all things through Christ
that strengthens us. Just as for every victory, every shot made the other team
has failed for the moment, we do in Christ. We think we can do anything instead
of all things, we forget about Christ in the actions, and want all the praise.
We want to make the shot, to win the game, to get the adulation. But scripture
tells us that as well as doing all things in Christ’s name, that also without
him we can do nothing.
It was when he realized that Jesus didn’t need his knowledge, his training,
his experiences, his contacts, or his background and knowledge of the laws, that
he could be used, and in a way that he never would have expected. He would be
sent out to the Gentiles, and in doing so was taking on the yoke of Christ.
Probably not known at the time, but in looking back saw how God has used his
humiliation to prepare him for his purpose. For me it was only a missed shot,
but a humbling experience. What was it for you? Or has it happened yet? For
to be used effectively by Christ we must conform to him, we must be humbled in
his sight, and know in our heart that without him we can do nothing. And have
the record to prove it without the spirit.
And so in Christ we aren’t to be a big shot, or to live for that final
shot. When we seek glory in the world, it is short lived. When we follow God’s
will it will provide eternal consequences. The small things we are told to do
will count heavy as opposed to the big things we do that impress others.
Esteeming yourself on your own will fall short in eyes of God, if you depend on
yourself you are evaluated as nothing by heavenly standards. That night in a
basket Paul learned this lesson, and took the yoke of Jesus upon him. One night
of tragedy turned into a life led by the spirit, and confessing Jesus to all he
met. One night a basket made changed my life, I had been humbled by a missed
shot, don’t you be. Don’t miss the only shot at heaven in Jesus Christ. I was
given another chance to make the shot and I did. I look back and see now that
being humbled is better than being humiliated, and in God’s mercy he gave me
another shot to make it. We only get mercy after we have screwed up or failed,
and true mercy is only found in Jesus. There were other games, and other shots
to make, but those are the only ones I remember.
You will not make every shot in life, but you will win the race in Jesus.
And that is what counts. The box score showed only my attempts and shots made,
it didn’t record the 100th point one. Statistics are cold like that, when the
box score is read of your life, will it show a victory or a loss? Who made the
shots or who called them? For Paul the most important basket he made changed
his life. “Up in the air, around the rim...” for Paul it was in the basket. I
guess that makes him a basket case? Are you?
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com