1 John 3:19-20:  “This then is how we know that we belong to the Truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence whenever our hearts condemn us.  For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.”

This might be the greatest scripture ever written…..I had to read it about ten times to fully digest it, and yet it still speaks to me almost every time I set my eyes on it.

As a coach and teacher, I live in a performance world.  In sports, we have a stat for everything imaginable, social media, and win-loss records.  As a teacher, we have tests and standards and we have many ways to communicate how well a student is doing.  All of these are good, but we must be very careful…..

Because sometimes these can lead people down a road that leads to:  “I just don’t measure up.”

Growing up, I played on teams where coaches challenged the whole team to FINISH the gasser in 32 seconds…..we all ran, and if the guy beside me or down the line didn’t finish in 32 seconds, WE ALL ran again.  And pretty soon the guy who COULDN’T was the focus of the entire team……and I can’t say that was a positive thing.

I have changed that mentality to a Godly principle in my coaching, teaching, and everything I do because of one thing that I can set my clock by….and that is…..Godly principles backed up by God ALWAYS work—-100% of the time.  If only I did this in everything that I did!

For the conditioning drill…..I can now challenge my team:  “Finish in 32 seconds….but for every guy who can’t, I need a guy to step up and blow the doors off of this and finish in 28!”  You see, that leader, who under the former way of thinking was yelling at the guy who couldn’t is now empowered to do something great—-which is exactly what we need to have happen in the game.  We don’t need the guy who is average to be a superstar, we need our team to work together in all phases and for the guy who IS THE SUPERSTAR to step up!!  That’s how great things happen on teams, in businesses, and in all great things.

And it is the gospel in action…….

You see, we could not finish the race in the time given.  And if we were assigned to run until we could make the time…..we would be running for all eternity.

So what did God do?  He sent us a team captain to set the bar high and blow the doors off the expectation.  And that He did.  He came and took responsibility for our bad team, put us on His shoulders and said, “come on over and play for a championship with me…..because we are going to run all over our opponent and I am going be right here in the huddle showing us how to do it.”

Wow…what a concept!

The team captain, the stud, the best player in the world, and the only guy who gives us even a remote chance to win, has come to be ON MY TEAM!!

Champions win championships……and He wants to lead us to the title.

So the next time you look in the mirror and say “I don’t measure up”, remember:  “God is greater than our hearts….and He knows everything……”

And while I might be scared at the prospect of “having my heart condemn me”, because I know that it will, I am excited that I have turned that heart over to the greatest teammate of all time, Jesus Christ.

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Coach J