Good morning! After hitting the snooze button on the phone yesterday, I began thinking about something very specific from my years of playing high school basketball. You probably know by now that when I think about something I always ask God what He is trying to say to me through that situation. In my life, I have learned that God is always speaking and the hard truth is that we are not always listening!
I want to tell you about a time when I was playing basketball in my senior year at a Christian school in the great State of New Jersey. Our basketball coach (who was also our Bible teacher, gym teacher, and athletic director) was great at building relationships with the players. He joined us during gym in whatever sport we were playing for the day and encouraged us in the hallways. He also had no problem calling us out for being the knuckleheads that we were at times. He invested in each student/player.
While soccer was my favorite sport to play, in the off season I loved to play basketball, especially for Coach – which is what we always called him. He had this fast break type of offense that we would constantly run and seemed to work well most of the time; but no matter how great our offense was, nothing could make up for a lack of defense. Defense is hard to play trying to keep your eye on the ball and the player you are defending, but I always gave it my all!
My one claim to fame when it came to defense was being able to take an offensive charge. Simply put, this is where someone from the other team was dribbling the ball on a certain path towards the basket and I would beat him to a spot, plant my feet, and let him run into me and bowl me over! If done correctly, they would receive a foul and our team would receive the ball. They were exhilarating because normally the home crowd would respond in loud cheers or the away crowd would be silenced! Either way it was equally great!
In my senior year, my coach knew I loved taking these things and told me he would give me a snickers bar (I wasn’t even like a huge snickers lover – I’m all about the Reeses eggs) for every charge I took for the year. I’m pretty sure, by the end of the season I had taken a total of thirty-six offensive charges and sure enough, Coach made good on his promise LOL!
So when I was asking God about this memory that had popped into my mind, the first thing that I thought about was how it is so important for us to stand our ground. When I was taking the charges, if my feet were moving while trying to take the foul, the foul would be on me and not on the offensive player; but if my feet were planted, I may have been knocked down, but the other team wouldn’t score and we would have the ball.
This is similar to how we need to stand firm in our faith. If we are unsure of what it means to follow Jesus, we will be tossed to and fro as the things of this world come against us. But if we are grounded in a relationship with Him, He will give us the courage and strength to stand for Him!
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.”
1 Corinthians 16:13
It was also important where my feet were planted. If I was half in the path of the offensive player and half outside the path, I would clip the side of him as he was going by, and the foul would be on me. My feet had to be planted firmly in the path the other player was trying to take.
The world is looking for people who are willing to authentically live out their faith, no matter the cost. People don’t want a knock off, they want the real thing! When we realize how much God loves us, our response should be to give Him ALL of us, not just the parts we don’t mind handing over. He wants us to be ALL in – not halfsies.
“Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.”
Proverbs 10:9
Another thing that God showed me is how we can interrupt the work of the enemy when we stand our ground. Some of the people around us who have not yet accepted God’s love are heading for danger and need someone (like me and you) to stand firm in the truth to block them from going any further down their path.
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.“
Romans 12:21
Just like taking the charge would knock me down, sometimes we will get hurt by others when we stand for the truth and plant our feet firmly in Jesus. But when our motive is our love for God and our love for others – God will pick us back up and continue to supply the strength and courage we need to keep going.
Heavenly Father, thank You for laying the firm foundation that we can securely plant ourselves on. There is no better place to stand than with Your Son – Jesus! Through Him we have everything we need! Help us to stand firm and to be ALL in. Help us to surrender everything to You, knowing that You love us and have already won! In Jesus Name – AMEN!
Be Transformed 