Anyone who knows me for 5 minutes knows that I absolutely love football. The excitement of pulling for one team over another and winning…or losing… is compelling to me. (Did you know my Saints won the Super Bowl?) But I digress! While watching a football game with my grandson, William, I asked, “Which person would you want to be if you played football, the one who throws the ball or the one who tackles?” He looked up at me and with great thought (shown by the furrow between his eyes) finally said, “I want to be the coach!” I laughed at that because he obviously had watched the battered ones on the field, vs. the coach who got to wear the cool headset and quickly surmised that the coach has the easiest job!
We make many decisions based on what appears to be the truth…and most of the time the outward is what we base that truth upon. Our world is so outwardly focused. As much as I hate to admit it, I often fall for “the way things seem.” I try not to but…there it is. I can remember in my first teaching job during parent/teacher conference one of my student’s mothers came in dressed very poorly with hair uncombed and flip-flops (before they were stylish). I immediately assumed that she was uneducated and poor and I treated her as such. (Lord, forgive me!) After the meeting I discussed this with another teacher and found out that the woman had a PhD and was from one of the wealthiest families in the city…she just didn’t care about the way she looked. I often wonder what she thought of me after that meeting and I was ashamed.
All through the Bible there are references to the outward and the inward. Jesus was a master at the inward…maybe because he could see what is there so clearly! Who would have chosen a short, hated tax collector to be someone who really wanted to change but just didn’t know how? Once he did, he began giving all he had away! Oh, and that woman…the one at the well. All the town’s people knew enough to leave her alone but Jesus offered her what she really needed-- a new start-- and she used it to bring all those town’s people to Jesus. And then there is that prideful persecutor of Christians…Yes, Jesus saw in Saul of Tarsus, one who would be the first missionary to the Gentiles and the one to write letters that continue to encourage us today. It is all in where we put our focus as to what we see in others but also in ourselves for God sees in us things that we might miss because we tend to look at our own “outwardness.” What does God see in you? Are you willing to allow Him to show you? You might be surprised that He knows your deepest needs, insecurities and your greatest gifts. You might also be surprised that He wants to use the things you think are worthless for something worthwhile.
William thought that the coach only had to stand on the sidelines and chew gum but he couldn’t see the hours of planning that goes into being a coach. The coach also tends to be able to see what each player can do even when that player might not and the simple phrase, “I know you can do this!” can make all the difference in the next play. What was unseen is so much more important than what is seen and so it is with the way we look at others and the way we view ourselves. Be willing to let God show you what is inward truth is and when we do, we will say, “Hey Coach! Put me in!” and that will make all the difference!
