This is not a religious blog, and religions is not restricted to the walls of the church. I feel compelled to speak to this because as an extraordinary coach you may be a Christian or you may be coaching Christians, and some light needs to be shed on a particular arena.
What has happened is the Christian has allowed themselves to fall into the anger place when they see what looks to them as victimization. Understand that as Christians, if we believe the Bible, we know that if God is for us, then who can be against us? That's not just a rhetorical question. That is an approach that we as Christians need to take. Too often, Christians fall into the trap that other members of society fall into and cause themselves to feel victimized. In my view, Christians really have no reason to feel victimized because we are the champions in God.
When I first became a Christian, my pastor used to say something along the lines of that point of view when he did his altar call. For those of you not familiar with an altar call, that's at the end of the service when you extend an invitation for members of the congregation to come forth and give their lives to Jesus. I participated in that once, and probably all the Christians I know did the very same thing.
What my pastor used to state was that he was talking about being a champion in God. He would say things like "I'm not talking about a weak-kneed, milquetoast, pamsy wamsy, weenie sort of Christian. I'm talking about a champion." When you see a Christian that's on their knees, they're not on their knees because they're getting weak like some people might think. We're on our knees because we're getting strong. As far as we're concerned, our belief in God guides us, leads us, and makes us able to navigate the world that we live in.
The reason I'm even having this blog is that I just saw a graphic on Facebook where someone was lamenting the different treatment that Tim Tebow got versus the treatment that Caitlyn Jenner is receiving. Quite naturally, those of us that are believers, we make take a little issue with what is going on in the realm of the sexual identity of people, but we have to realize that God still loves those people. We have to realize that God is love and he doesn't need us to be mean to people in order to show people how much he loves them.
One thing that is not clear, and that is how to approach what we look at in the world as being a difficult situation. How can we go forth and cherish the name of Jesus and promote God's love without being critical of others. I must say it's a fine line that we have to walk, but there is a way to do it. All the urges that we have to retaliate, we don't need to retaliate. We don't need to fight back because God has our back. If you believe God has your back, you have no reason to be angry at anything.
As an extraordinary coach, you show how you feel about social ills by voting. By voting, I don't mean telling someone else how terrible their choice is and I don't mean criticizing anyone at all. Certainly you're free to speak your mind, but if you know that a person has a particular issue with your point of view, then there's no reason for you to offer your point of view in cases where only an argument would result. You want to show who you are. You want to let your actions speak so loudly that people can only hear your actions. You don't need to cram anything down anyone's throat and you don't need to defend yourself.
I can't be clear enough about that. As a coach, whether you get it or not, what you say is a big deal. Just like children hear their parents and don't do what their parents say, you better believe that they hear what their parents say. In the Bible, it is suggested that we raise a child up in the way they should go, and when they're old, they won't depart from it. Now you as a parent might not see how the child is behaving or how the child is listening to what you say, but the world of God said that the child would.
A similar thing happens in the marketplace when we are communicating with people who don't believe like we do. I'm talking about Christianity now but this belief, divergent beliefs, is not restricted to Christianity. Christianity is just a vehicle I use because that's what is closest to me. A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. I think that while everybody believes that, in practice everybody doesn't do that. Until you begin to believe, until you begin to do what you say you believe, or until you begin to walk in what you say you understand, you don't really understand it.
I must admit, it feels good when you tell somebody how it is. It feels great when you take somebody's inventory and end your inventory with a statement, "Now ... " and exclamation point. But that only makes you feel good. Making you feel good is not what the Christian walk is all about. The Christian walk admonishes us that if we don't help anybody, don't hurt them. The scripture says to be careful tossing your pearls before swine. It's easy for us to take that attitude when we don't think anybody is listening to us, but the scripture also says be as harmless as a dove and as wise as a serpent.
Let's make sure that we don't use social media to rub people's nose in it. Make sure we don't use our ability to communicate to try to make others feel bad. The word of God also says love your enemy. The word of God says forgive those who spitefully use you. Your attitude, if you want to be a Christian, might be best if you eliminate all the fear and hate that can be in a person's heart. Because believe me, it is fear that's driving most of the inequities of our earth.
Now I know you might have felt like you were in church today. You weren't in church. In a way, though, church is the entire world, the entire marketplace, so I guess you maybe were in church. I certainly hope that this blog benefited you. If that stops you from reading this blog in the future, man, it sure was nice having you onboard. If not, you can count on me using my Christian walk in everything that I am to help my life, which eventually helps the life of those around me. As always, if this blog has helped you or given you any ideas, please share it with someone that you care about. Until the next time, have yourself a good time.
No comments:
Post a Comment