In the film, Grant Taylor is the head football coach for the Shiloh Christian Academy. In his six years of coaching, he’s never had a winning season. And as the new season begins, he discovers his best player has transferred to another school. After losing their first three games of the season, the coach discovers a group of fathers are plotting to have him fired. Combined with pressures at home, Coach Taylor has lost hope in his battle against fear and failure.
He finds himself questioning the purpose of his team. And as he searches Scripture and prays, he discovers that his own motives are self-centered, and the goals he has the team striving for are short lived. So he develops a new team philosophy and shares it with the team. The bottom line is this quote, "I resolve to give God everything I've got and leave the results up to Him."
The team followed his lead. Instead of playing for themselves...their dreams, their goals, their purposes...the began to play for God's glory. And everything changed.
The same is true for us. The moment we realize that life isn’t about striving to fulfill our dreams, our goals, our purposes, but that we are here for a higher purpose…when we discover that life is about living out God’s purposes for our lives…everything changes. God has great purposes for our lives. But if we are to fulfill the amazing purposes God has for us, then everything we do must line up with His purpose, not ours.
1 Corinthians 10:31-33 shows us how to live aligned with God’s purposes.
- “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (v. 31). I appreciate the fact that Paul doesn’t go for the super-spiritual stuff (pray, read the bible, witness, teach a class, go on a missions trip). He starts with the ordinary, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do… cutting grass… closing a mortgage… cleaning house… doing homework… or dishes… give God the glory… ushering… singing… teaching… whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.
- “Do not cause anyone to stumble” (v. 32). Again, Paul uses basic language… Jews (religious people who haven’t come to faith in Christ, Greeks (irreligious people), the church (believers). People watch how Christians live. Religious people claim Christians look down their noses, and we prove them right. Iirreligious people call us hypocrites, and we prove them right. Young Christians look to the mature for guidance, and we fail to live obvious faith. If we're going to live by God's purposes, we have to check our attitutes and actions, being sure we aren't giving people reason to reject the truth.
- “I try to please everybody in every way” (v. 33). Ask yourself two questions. First, do people at work like being with you or avoid being around you? Why? Second, how do you repond to people who are rude, crude or socially difficult? Do you reject them or love them? People genuinely like being around Jesus. He reached out to everyone. Living by God's purposes means following His example.
Want some specific steps to get started?
- Start living your life being friendly...you’re life will change.
- Start considering your attitudes and actions…your life will change.
- Start living for God’s glory instead of your own…your life will change
And the giants of life will begin to retreat.
No comments:
Post a Comment