Monthly Archives: December 2010

Unknown's avatar

If blaming is bad, what about praising God for football success?

by

A majority of this week’s posts have been about football: more specifically blaming God for football mistakes.

Here’s a story about Tampa Bay Buccaneers DT and first round draft pick Gerald McCoy where this player does the opposite of Steve Johnson. He actually credits God for his improved play in recent weeks. Here’s an excerpt from the St Pete Times.

“My spiritual life, what was happening, I was swaying away from that,” McCoy said. “I was kind of doing things the way I wanted to do it. God had a plan for my life, and I wasn’t living according to how His plan was. “Once I got back on track is when things started to really make a quick transformation. Two games, three sacks, it happens that fast. You’ve got to stay on track with God, and things work out for you.”

First of all I have to say that I heard McCoy being interviewed on the Dan Patrick radio show, and he was very mature, classy, humble, and a godly lad.

In light of the respect I already have for this 21-22 year old,  I’d simply like to throw out a question: “Since its never a good idea to blame God as the reason for your bad play, is it ALWAYS good to cite God as the reason for your good play?”

It is always good to attribute your God-given ability to, well, God. It is always good to attribute your opportunity to God; some folks just don’t get the opportunity because of coaching situations, injuries, family tragedies, etc…

But while attributing ability, opportunity, and even success to God, athletes need to be very careful in attempting to explain WHY God has granted those things. This can actually become quite dangerous.

God does bless people when they return to Him, but HOW He does that is His business. We don’t get a vote. God could be graciously (unmerited) blessing McCoy after He wandered and returned, that his poor play was God’s way of getting his attention. But its also possible, that McCoy, a rookie, has simply begun to learn to play within the system now.
 There are numerous examples of God raising up athletes for seasons of their lives for a specific purpose and then setting them down. Pittsburgh Steeler’s Tommy Maddox comes to mind, as does Shaun King for the Bucs, both of whom are professing Christians. Both had A season of playing at a high level before being deposed.

Who knows why God exalted them for a bit, and then humbled them shortly after? Was it moral failure? Did God exalt them because they returned to the Lord? Did He simply want them to glorify Him in different places through defeat? No idea.

To assume we know WHY God allows Christian athletes, businessmen, or pastors to excel is to assume a very simple and reductionist view of God. It equates walking with God with outward success in life; aka the “prosperity gospel.” God simply becomes a vending machine with the currency of good works used to squeeze something out of Him.

In conclusion, I think it is awesome McCoy recognizes God’s Sovereignty in His success. I just wish he and other Christian athletes wouldn’t draw such a necessary connection between faith and success. 

Unknown's avatar

A prophet and king unwelcome in home town

by
Jesus coined the phrase “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household (Matthew 13:57).” While he was born in Bethlehem, he grew up in Nazareth. People there had a hard time really getting behind the fact that while Jesus was fully human, he was also fully God (of course this was hard for the first 300 or so years of the church, but they always seemed to have the sense of it being true despite taking some time to agree upon the precise orthodox language). They saw Jesus as Mary and Joseph’s kid, who like all the other kids, did kid things (though not sinfully-I’d love to see what Jesus was like as a youth!), and now was a grown up telling people he was more than just a dude. So Jesus was not respected in his home town as even a prophet, much less a King, even though he did nothing wrong.
It seems a king is also not without honor except in his hometown as well. Lebron James, aka “King James” returned to his hometown-at least in the vicinity of-Cleveland with a similar reception. Except he received boos instead of disbelief. But these were well deserved boos seeing as he did jilt his hometown on national TV via his self-promoting TV special to head to Miami. The city reflected upon James and his actions, and the best way to dishonor this lesser King. Fortunately they stayed within the confines of the law and didn’t need the bail money they had set aside, as some had talked about on Jim Rome’s show.

So prophet and king aren’t welcomed in home towns. I wonder about priests…Where is Priest Holmes now?

Unknown's avatar

Steve Johnson Tweet Take 3

by
This is my final Steve Johnson Twitter take. Again, this is not to pile on one man’s mistake, but simply to consider our own response to “dropping passes” in our lives. He’s probably a cool cat, and he probably loves Jesus just as much as I do. Although, one could make an argument that if his life was so structured as his tweet- he “praised God 24/7” so that good things can happen, and is mad when they don’t-that’s really not love at all but attempted manipulation. God can’t be manipulated like people, so don’t try. But I don’t want to read too much more into his tweet, so this take is more on the public nature of twitter and facebook.
There is a powerful scene in The Apostle, one of my favorite movies of all time, where Robert Duvall is literally yelling and screaming at God, wondering what in the world is happening to him. The neighbors call up fairly perturbed and ask what the deal is. His mother answers to something to the effect of, “Sometimes Sonny talks to God, sometimes he yells.”
God can take our frustrations. He can take our yelling. We don’t need to be gentle as though He gets His feelings hurt by us. We just need to couch everything in the fact that He is God, and we are not. He’s privy to more than we are, and He love us more than we love ourselves (hard to believe, but true). But with that pre-supposition in our heads (our hearts may be miles away), we can lay our souls bare before him. I think we can even yell and cry out.
But bearing your soul and frustrations before Him is one thing. Bearing your unfiltered frustrations with God and others before the world is another.
Facebook and Twitter can be great things. But they are not good places to lay your soul bare, and air dirty laundry that you have with your spouse, children, siblings, and frustrations with God. Such venues dishonor ALL of the aforementioned. God doesn’t do that with us, and he doesn’t let others do that to us (Matthew 18). 
Frustrations are best done in real community, not cyber-community. A small group, a close friend, a pastor, elder, are 100% better than Facebook in this regard. These are safe places to be frustrated which don’t dishonor anyone. Of course the best person is the person with whom you are frustrated.

Mike Florio of profootballtalk.nbcsports.com, though not a believer to my knowledge, offers some sage advice on what we can learn from Johnson’s tweet:

The possible lesson?  Prayer is best left between the person sending it, and the entity receiving it.

Unless your prayer is something that you want repeated throughout generations, like those Puritan prayers in The Valley of Vision, Florio has a good point.

Unknown's avatar

Steve Johnson Tweet Take 2

by
Other folks, perhaps smarter, with blogs more well read, have blogged about Steve Johnson’s tweet. One thoughtful, albeit lengthy response is here.
Before moving on, I will say that Johnson tried to recant his tweet here. Nevertheless, since his tweet raised some interesting questions, I’m going to give my “take two” on Johnson’s shot at God. This take is more aimed at a question, then at Johnson.
You regularly see QB’s pointing to the sky for touchdown catches, as well as some who give praise to Jesus for a win. So if God makes you win, then does God make you lose? If God makes you catch the pass, then does God make you drop the pass? If you can credit Him for the win, shouldn’t you be able to blame Him for the loss?

Hmmm…..

God is providentially involved in all of life, even evil things which people do to us (Gen 50:20). I prefer to use the word, “allow.” He allows us to drop passes, catch passes, remember our spelling words, or forget something on the SAT. He is in charge of all things, and nothing is out of His control. Jesus calmed the storm in Matthew 8, and showing how even weather systems are powerless against his will. But Jesus often lets weather systems run their course too. Are they his fault? Well he did allow them…
At what level was God involved in Johnson’s drop (he actually had 5 in the game), I don’t know. And I don’t care, and neither should we. While football is often the center of our universe, it isn’t the center of God’s universe. I don’t think he cares a whole lot about the outcome of the game. He could run that operation like Angels in the Outfield, or just allow normal cause and effect and differing levels of skills and coaching to be the deciding factor.
The problem is that the one who wins is the one who gets the microphone, and so all we hear is, “Thank you Jesus for this win.” We rarely get to hear the loser speak, which is what reporters would do if I had any say. But after Johnson’s tweet, maybe I don’t want Christian football players who just lost the game get in front of the mic. Twitter, like it or not, is perhaps even more powerful a tool than TV now.
In the end, good receivers, whether Christian or non-Christian, make touchdown catches at the end of the game. They just do. It is not wrong for them to take some credit in making a great catch.
Ultimately, in the end, God allows us to both catch and drop passes. When you catch it, remember who gave you the ability to catch it-whether you mention Jesus in the interview or not. I don’t think Christ is dishonored when you don’t throw out his name by giving him credit for the win. 
But when you drop it, recognize your part in it all, and then remember who gave you the ability to deal with the drop.