August 17, 2011

Just Shoot!


Reading: I Corinthians 16:13, Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.

I once coached a fifth and sixth grade basketball team. For the first seven games, I had been talking to one of my kids about trying to score a basket. He is the one who was always happy to be out there and ran around without a whole lot of purpose as far as the game was concerned. On the few occasions when he did receive the ball, he treated it like a hand grenade, trying as fast as possible to pass it to someone else never once actually looking at the hoop. During our second to last game, he finally picked up a loose ball, and fired one in. He threw his arms in the air and jumped up and down with a look on his face that was pure joy as he skipped to the other side of the court.

You can’t score if you don’t shoot the ball. Do not be afraid to stick your neck out. “Be on your guard, stand firm… be strong.”

Even though we are not little kids learning to play basketball, we can still tend to struggle with some of the same things. Some have a difficult time believing that God can use them… either they’re not good enough, they don’t know enough or they’re not the “first string”. Men, God wants us to score. He simply wants us to shoot the ball and rely on Him for the results. He will do the rest.

What are some things that we want to do but might be too afraid to try?


Are we missing out on some of God’s great joys because we lack the courage to “throw up a shot?”


What will you do today to make the attempt today?

REVIEW

What were you able to attempt for God today, that you may have been fearful of?

Did you score? Just like you may have encouraged a kid to not be discouraged if he misses but… to just keep shooting… same goes for us. No matter the result today, men, we just need to keep shooting.