Monday, October 15, 2007

VOLLEYBALL

  • 1 Oh, the joys of those who do not follow evil men's advice, who do not hang around with sinners, scoffing at the things of God. 2 But they delight in doing everything God wants them to, and day and night are always meditating on his laws and thinking about ways to follow him more closely.
    Psalms 1:1-2 TLB

I’m sitting at a WCS volleyball game. The whistle blows—one point for our team, finally. How could our team have done so well, winning divisively in the first game, and so poorly in this one? Volleyball is a game of team work. Six players for each team rotate around the court hitting the ball back and forth over the net. Our problem seems to be that this time we have six individuals playing instead of a team of six players.

So you might be wondering, “What does volleyball have to do with Psalm 1?” I’m glad you asked.

David understands the importance of teamwork. We are blessed when we do not follow the counsel of the wicked or hang out with sinners. Now I’m not saying that the wicked don’t know how to play as a team. However, when you stop to think about it the recommendation and guidance of sinners will tend to be self-centered. Sin makes you selfish. The wicked are more interested in what’s in it for them personally than what they can give to others.

Our greatest joy is found when we learn to take delight in God’s word, and this is important, we live in obedience to His commands. Jesus summarized the entirety of the Law in two commands: [1] love God, and [2] love your neighbor as yourself (see Matthew 12:29-31). Jesus’ prayer was that His disciples (that’s you and me) would be one that is to live in unity (see John 17:20-21). To put it another way God wants us to work together, and yes play together too, as a team because of our love for one another. We can’t do that if we are always thinking of ourselves.

David says the righteous are like trees planted along the river’s edge bearing fruit in season (verse 3). Or we might say they are like a winning volleyball team. I wish I could tell you that our girls won, but they lost the match two games to one. We would have a lot more joy on our side if they had worked together as a team in those last two games. Teamwork—what do you think?

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