Let’s go on a trip to a football field in a town somewhere
in the middle of Wisconsin. I’m in 9th grade (pretty much the
pinnacle of my playing days) and we just narrowly beat the opposing team after
a struggle of a game that should not have been that close. Our team fought
valiantly, worked together, and pulled out the victory, but in the heat of the
moment as I walked off the field, I had this interaction:
My parents: “Hey, great job.”
Me: “I can’t believe they called a f@#%!& hold on me!”
My mom: [Face turns white in shock]
That was pretty much it. I walked the rest of the way to the
bus, shocked that I’d just said my first curse word in front of my mother (and
in such dramatic fashion no less!) and I was a nervous wreck the entire
three-hour bus ride home, not sure what might be awaiting me in my next
interaction with my mom!
(For the record, we’ve since joked many times about this
incident, but no one ever spoke a word about it until I was in college and we
could laugh about it!)
You probably know where I’m headed with this. While I thought
the Richard Sherman interview last night was selfish, embarrassing, and
ridiculous, I’ve been there and done that. (If you haven't seen the interview and desire to, scroll to the bottom of this page).
Yes, he’s a professional athlete (not a 9th
grader) and should know when it’s appropriate to speak like that and that he
probably shouldn’t be airing personal issues with another player on national
television, but I’ll give him a pass for being caught up in the heat of the moment.
It’s probably that same passion and drive to be the best
that has brought him to where he is in the first place, and like all of us, our
strengths have inherent weaknesses if not kept in check.
But here’s my bigger issue with that interview…
Like my own outburst in 9th grade, he put the
spotlight on himself after a fantastic football game and a great team effort. Instead
of talking about what a great game the two teams played and how the Seahawks as
a team collectively made up for each other’s mistakes and are now headed to the
Super Bowl, we’re talking about Richard Sherman.
But if I’m honest, there’s a whole lot of that taking place
in my own heart on a daily basis. Here are two ways I’m more like the Richard
Sherman from that interview than I care to admit.
1)
I compare myself to others to feel more valuable
Perhaps the hardest part of that interview was watching
Sherman call out another player on national television. Yet, though I may not
verbalize it, I constantly compare myself to other people – other musicians,
other writers, other preachers, etc. I hate this about myself because it’s
destructive to having a healthy and positive view of who God has created me –
Chris Kopp – to be, and because in no way does it line up with the Gospel. For
we are all created in the image of God, and all of us have been uniquely
designed by our Creator with gifts, skills, and strengths that must be affirmed
and celebrated. When I minimize my own value or that of another human being by
playing the comparison game, it’s as if I’m telling God that He didn’t know
what He was doing when He created the cosmos.
2)
I’m constantly drawing attention and glory to
myself and away from God
I have no glory or good of my own to show off since
everything that I have been given is from God, yet how often do I do ministry
or interact with others as if it’s me myself that’s awe-inspiring, worthy of
worship, and has the ability to change lives? Every time I get on a platform
without being dependent on the Lord to move and work, get positive feedback on
something I’ve written and take all the credit myself, or get some other form
of a compliment and neglect to in some way point to the actual Source of what’s
good in me, I fail to worship and praise God as He deserves. I myself cannot
change lives and I have nothing of my own that is good to give – all I can do
is reflect God’s glory to others that He might be more fully worshipped.
If you’ve read many of my posts, you might be beginning to
think that I’m either the most horrible, sinful person in the world or that I
tend to exaggerate when I identify and claim the sin that I see in others. If
either of those things are true, it’s probably the former.
But what I’m really trying to get at is that I don’t presume
that most people are all that different from each other, myself included –
whether liars, or cheaters, or adulterers, or gossipers, or boasters, or the
arrogant, or the proud, or murderers, or thieves, or those who have been sent
to prison - or those who gather in a place of worship every weekend.
The human condition of sinfulness and brokenness is
universal and no one is exempt from contributing to the evil that we see in the
world. We may know how to hide or harness it, and it might play itself out
differently in all of us, but left unchecked, and if we don’t find the Cure, that 30-second interview with Richard Sherman is the least of our problems.
"It’s clear enough, isn’t it,
that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody
else? Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What
it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin.
But in our
time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all
those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has
become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone
who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this.
Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them)
and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills
for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing
with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us
to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ." –Romans 3, The Message
-CK
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