Devotion 2.15.21

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:2 - 3

Just as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, "I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessing." (9:22) So we see in Ephesians the simple message, "Do you want to be right, or do you want to be effective? Do you want to make a difference?"

To be right requires a certain amount of confidence, but it can also be based on a certain amount of arrogance.  I don't like being wrong.  Personally I don't know of too many who do (or if I've ever met anyone who doesn't like being wrong for that matter), but to walk with God and the message of salvation requires a certain measure of humility, asking, "What's more important right now?" Isaiah 42:3 says it this way, "A bruised reed he will not break...."

Andy Reid said it well in the post-game interview Sunday.  As you may or may not know, just days before the Super Bowl, a wreck came at his son's hands that critically injured a child and injured others as well.  So, he went into the game with that weighing on him.  By the end of the game, he had the suffocating loss weighing on him as well, but he said this: "First, my heart goes out to everyone involved in that crash. My heart bleeds for those who were injured, especially severely.  As to the game, we made plans the previous week for the game, but the accident was about humanity, the game was football.  As for the loss, it's on me.  I didn't make the necessary plans for the game in terms of the offensive line and didn't make adjustments during the game.  That's on me." 

Now I'm paraphrasing his words in quotes, but that is the essence of his message. My interpretation of it was this: The wreck was tragic. The game was football. The two are separate, but the wreck and the lives of the injured and their families are more important than the game. As to the game and the team, it's on me.  I bear responsibility for the loss." As I sat and listened, I thought, "Now THAT is being a real man.  Humility in a time of loss in both instances.  Bearing the responsibility for the weight of a game that was one-sided and owning it."  Football is a team sport (as is most of life), so imagine the temptation to invoke that fact during the course of the post-game interview.  "Hey, we all didn't belly up to the bar today." Reid could have said that, but in humility and gentleness, he raised the conversation to other matters that were truly more important (life and death), put the issue in perspective (it's a game), and took responsibility (it's on me).

He could have spoken convincingly, but he chose the path Paul has for us in his letter.  For his team and as an example to us, he sought to "maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." That's what it means to be a man seeking to make a difference over being right.  That's what it means to be a man as God would have us be - bearing responsibility for our actions over taking credit. 

I pray that in similar circumstances, I share my light of the grace of God over the notion of winning for the sake of winning, or even winning when I might be right, to allow humility and gentleness to win the day for the sake of the gospel.