How To Know If You Are Legalistic

After rereading yesterday’s blog post, I became concerned I might be misinterpreted, that some of you might mistakenly think I was suggesting Christians shouldn’t participate in organized athletics when I was simply using sarcasm to make a point about some things that are wrong with organized athletics.

I was afraid you might think I was a legalist, and I know I’m not a legalist. After all, I drink martinis, go to R-rated movies and make regular trips to Las Vegas to play blackjack.  (Note: I don’t get drunk, I turn away during nude scenes at movies and I don’t gamble with money I can’t afford to lose). Continue reading “How To Know If You Are Legalistic”

3 Things I Learned From Athletics

There is much talk in the U.S. about the importance of athletics and specifically how it builds character.

Having played organized basketball from the time I was 7 years old and received a basketball scholarship in college, I thought I might share with you three things I learned from organized athletics.

1.     Winning is everything. I learned this early on. The trophies went to the teams that won, and the coaches repeatedly reminded us winning was the most important thing, or as some would say, “Winning is not the most important thing; it’s the only thing,” which I think was another way of saying winning was the most important thing. I also learned this from watching college athletics. Coaches that lost got fired and the coaches who won got better jobs and more money, even the coaches whose players didn’t graduate and got in trouble with the law.

Continue reading “3 Things I Learned From Athletics”

The Key To Finding The Best Mate

When I was single, like most singles I hoped to get married one day.

At some point, I began to pray for my future wife, even before I knew who she was.  I prayed that she would have all the characteristics I wanted in a wife.  The list was long and the bar high.

One day while praying a thought hit me, a thought I am convinced was from the Lord because thoughts so piercing and objective about ourselves rarely originate from within. Continue reading “The Key To Finding The Best Mate”

On Discretion

Discretion is of late an unheralded virtue.  To give the virtue its due, I herald it here.

The definition of “discreet” is “[m]arked by, exercising, or showing prudence and wise self-restraint in speech and behavior; circumspect.” (The American Heritage Dictionary, 4th Ed.).

Here are some aphorisms on discretion from the Bible, some from me and one from a portly Brit:

(c)iStockphoto.com/fambros

“As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.” (Proverbs 11:22).

“A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression.”  (Proverbs 19:11).

“When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you…” (Proverbs 2:10-11).

“Imprudence speaks then thinks; discretion thinks and remains silent.”

“Discretion is a friend to the wise, but a stranger to the foolish.”

“He who exerecises discretion exercises wisdom.”

“Tact is the unsaid part of what you think.”  Winston Churchill

Seeing The Big Picture

The wife and I were at a local sports bar tonight with Tennessee alumni watching the Volunteers play Memphis. The Vols played well but the service at the bar was terrible.

When our waitress would come out from the bar she would go to just one table each time then return to the bar. She never lifted up her eyes to see if anyone else at a different table needed anything. This went on all night. No less than five times I was waiving my arms trying to get her attention, but she didn’t look up, not once. Instead, she was focused only on the table she came out to check on.

We were finally able to get our check, pay and leave. On the way home we went through the drive thru at the local McDonald’s for an ice cream cone. The attendant handed me the cone with so much ice cream it was about to fall off the top of the cone. Along with the one ice cream cone he handed me eight napkins. Yes, eight.

Now the waitress and the McDonald’s employee, although young, both seemed reasonably intelligent. Yet both of them were terrible at doing jobs that weren’t difficult because they didn’t see the big picture.

The waitress didn’t get that her job was to serve her customers; she apparently thought she was just supposed to take and deliver orders.

The McDondald’s employee didn’t understand his employer was interested in making a profit. If he had understand this, he wouldn’t have wasted his employer’s money by putting way too much ice cream in the cone and giving me eight napkins when I only needed one. Neither he nor the waitress saw the big picture.

After Jesus ministered to the woman at the well, His disciples returned from getting food and encouraged Him to eat. When Jesus told them He had food they didn’t know about, they began to discuss amongst themselves how Jesus had gotten food without them knowing.

Jesus explained he wasn’t talking about food, but doing the Father’s will. He then encouraged them to see the big picture: “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.” (John 4:30-38).

The disciples didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about because they weren’t focused on the big picture. Their focus determined their understanding.

Are you seeing the big picture of the kingdom of God or are you focused on only what is immediately before you? GS