Good morning! When my son first started playing baseball he would get down on himself when he made mistakes and I would have to be very strategic on how I tried to help him get better. If I wasn’t careful, he would think that I was telling him he was no good!
This weekend as Josh was playing in his tournament, I watched something beautiful happen. Now let me tell you the type of parent I am – As he plays, I watch from a distance and cheer him on as he walks up to bat or makes a great play. When he makes a mistake, I yell out good try bud to encourage him to keep going. And if he ever looks for me (which he seems to do often) I always give him a thumbs up 👍🏼 to let him know I think he is doing great!
After one specific play of the game, I could tell Josh was upset, but as he entered the dugout he was immediately surrounded by three teammates who came alongside him to cheer him up. They literally opened up their arms to give him a hug and tell him it’s all good.
Josh knows that I have very strict rules about crying in sports – crying is not acceptable in sports! Sports are supposed to be fun, help to build character, and help you challenge yourself to continue getting better!
After the game I went over to the dugout and told Josh he needed to get himself together because he started welling up. As we were walking to the car, he began to tell me how a couple things that were said by his coach really bothered him. The things he shared with me were nothing that I was concerned with and I actually told him that I agreed with his coach.
Your coach is challenging you to get you to reach your greatest potential! You are not always going to immediately agree with everything he says, but if you learn to trust him and allow him to point out areas that need special attention, you will grow!
The same thing is true in our spiritual life! We are too sensitive and are too easily offended by the Word of God. We take things personally instead of seeing the place of love the correction or challenge is coming from.
God will always point out areas where we are not giving our best! He will always point out the areas that we need to be corrected in. He will always challenge us to make better decisions and so much more! But everything He does is not to hurt us but to help us reach our God-given potential.
If we trust the conviction and guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will grow in areas we never thought possible. We will be able to make a greater impact for Him and learn to love the discipline he commands in our lives.
Let’s do our best to allow God to challenge us, correct us, and call us out when we are out of line to reach our greatest potential and make the biggest possible impact for eternity.
“They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
Hebrews 12:10-11
Heavenly Father, thank You for knowing what’s best for us and always challenging us to reach our potential. Help us to not get easily offended, but instead heed your guidance to grow in the impact we will have on eternity. In Jesus Name – AMEN!
Be Transformed 