Who Do You Give The Ball To?

"Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
But God be thanked that though you were slaves to sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered."
Romans 6:16-17 (NKJV)

Soccer is played around the world, and it is a relatively simple game.  The goal of soccer is for one team to use the ball to score more goals than the other team.  But, what if only one team was able to use the ball?  The result would be that the team with the ball would score all the goals and win the game.  It would be foolish for the team without the ball to wonder why they lost the game, because obviously they never had the ball.  Whoever is given the ball, whoever controls the ball, will always win the game.

We all have choices in life about what we do.  And, while this is true, there are still some Christians who believe that God is in control of everything.  But, if God was in control of everything, then the Bible would never tell us that there is a right way and a wrong way to live our life, we would never be told to resist the devil, and there would be no point to the encouragement for believers to walk by faith and not by sight.  The truth is that we all have choices in life, and what we choose will have a major impact on the life that we live.

In Romans 6, Paul said that we should not allow sin to reign in our life.  Paul also said that whoever or whatever we yield to will become our master.  Just like in a soccer game, the team that is given the ball will score the goal.  In the same way, spiritually, whoever we "give the ball to," who we yield ourselves to, will become dominant in our life.  We can yield to God's direction and guidance of how to live our life, or to the wrong attitudes, actions, and desires.  Who we yield to is who we give the ball of our life to, and that is who will have dominance in our life.

Stay In Your Lane

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,"
Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV)

One thing that is very important while driving is to stay in your lane.  Although there may be times you will change lanes while you are driving, generally you need to stay in your lane.  The same concept is true in many events in track and field, where each runner needs to stay in their assigned lane during the race.  If you cross over to another lane while you are running, you could be disqualified, and if you move into another lane while you are driving, you could have an accident.  The best thing to do is to stay in the lane you are traveling in.

God has a plan and purpose for every person, and in the Bible this is sometimes compared to a race.  A race is a specific course that is followed by someone to reach a desired destination.  In our individual race, as a part of the plan that God has for our lives, there are things we are called to do, and there are things other people are called to do in their race.  We need to understand the race we are called to run, and encourage others in their race, but we should never judge anyone for the race they are running, just because it is a different race than ours.

Hebrews 12:1 talks about the race that is set before us, which is talking about the plan that God has for us.  It is our race, that is set before, in front of, us.  My race is what I need to run, and your race is what you are called to run.  In God's plan and purpose for our lives, His will is unique for each of us and the course of our life, so each person's race will look different than someone else's.  To successfully run our race, we need to stay in our lane and do what God has called us to do, and not get into the lane, the calling, that God has for someone else.

Walking In Love - Are You Keeping Score?

"does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;"
1 Corinthians 13:5 (NKJV)

Have you ever met someone who remembers the score from some sporting event, or the last time their team played a certain opponent?  Then, the next time that important type of game comes up, or when the other opponent is mentioned, that person remembers exactly what happened in the last game, what the score was, and they can even tell you about specific parts of the game.  That can just be a dedicated sports fan, or it can be someone who is obsessed with something in the past.  It is one thing to be a sports fan and have a favorite team, but often past games and scores are better left in the past.

People want to remember the good things in life, and to forget the bad things, usually.  But some people will keep in mind something that someone else did, that offended them or actually hurt them, and the person who was offended or hurt will remember that thing more than they should.  Everyone has been offended and hurt by someone else, but if we are keeping track of the wrong things people have done, and in some way we are keeping "score" with exactly what happened, when it happened, and how terrible it was, that is the kind of thing that can develop into a serious problem. 

In 1 Corinthians 13:5, we see that one of the characteristics of the God kind of love is that it "thinks no evil."  The word "thinks" here, in the NKJV of 1 Corinthians 13:5, means to take an inventory, with the idea of "counting up" something, like someone would keep score in some sporting event.  If we are going to walk in love, where we are fulfilling the will of God, living in the blessings of God, and being helpful to other people, we will need to learn to forget about past wrongs, accidental or intentional, and walk in love towards others.  We need to stop keeping score and start walking in the God kind of love.

What Is Your Supply, Your Share?

"from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."
Ephesians 4:16 (NKJV)

You cannot give someone something that you do not have.  If someone asks you for a pen, but you do not have a pen, then you cannot give them a pen.  But if you have a pen, you could simply give it to the other person.  But what if you had a pen in your pocket, that you had forgotten about, or what if you had something else that someone asked for, but you did not know that you had it?  If you had forgotten what you had, or you somehow did not know you had something, you would not be able to give that item to someone, until you realized you actually had that thing.

A basic Bible fact is that believers make up the Body of Christ; Jesus is the Head, we are the Body, and each person has some gift from God, some ability that they can use as a part of the Body of Christ.  But what if someone does not understand that?  What if someone only thinks some people have a gift, but they themselves do not?  If you do not understand that you have a gift, you will not use that gift.  The result will be that your part of the Body of Christ will be lacking what you should give, and that is not good.

Ephesians 4:16 says that every part of the Body of Christ has a gift, something to supply and to share, so that the entire Body of Christ will grow and develop.  But some people do not even know that they have a gift, a supply, something to share.  We need to learn who we are in Christ, and what God has equipped us to do, through God's Word, and then be led by the Holy Spirit about how God wants us to give our supply, to share what we have, so that God's plans and purposes will come to pass.  What is your supply, what is it you have to share?