As I get ready to re-launch my blog in 2012, I'm going back through past posts that I've written but never published and publishing them for the first time. When I first wrote this [Spring 2009], two months after I began working in full-time ministry, I had no idea what was ahead of me and the trials I would face. I can only say that this article is MORE relevant today in my own life than ever before. I pray that it encourages you and challenges you to leave it all on the court.
*****
[march 2009]
I grew up playing pretty much every sport imaginable -
gymnastics starting at age 2, softball at age 4 (okay, tee-ball), then soccer,
basketball, volleyball, ultimate frisbee, you name it. I was actually a pretty
mellow and even fearful child... except when I was in the gym or on the field. The field, the court, the diamond - that was when this invisible switch would flip inside of me and I would suddenly become The Girl Who Knew No Fear. I was the basketball player who would dive into the stands to save a loose ball
from going out-of-bounds - the gymnast who would try backflipping on the
balance beam without a spotter - the goalie who would stop a ball with my FACE
before letting the opposing team score. And yes, I really did all three of those things :).
There was a catch-phrase that my basketball team would always use when we were getting amped up before games: "Leave it all on the court." And that meant that we were vowing to each other that we were going to give nothing less than 100% out there from the first buzzer until the final one. We were saying that we were going to give every last ounce of physical and mental energy that we had and leave everything that we had out there between the baselines - which sometimes would literally be blood, sweat and tears. Anything less than giving 100% was completely unacceptable to us. We knew that we might not always win a division title - but when we got to the end of our season, we wanted to be able to look back at EVERY minute of EVERY game and say, "... yup, I left it all on the court. I gave it everything that I had." To have regrets, or to think "man, I wonder what would have happened if I had just played more aggressively, or if I had worked a little harder during practice, or if I hadn't let that taller player intimidate me, or if I had just had confidence that I was going to make that free throw" - that would be something that we would have to live with forever. We couldn't get those moments back.
There was a catch-phrase that my basketball team would always use when we were getting amped up before games: "Leave it all on the court." And that meant that we were vowing to each other that we were going to give nothing less than 100% out there from the first buzzer until the final one. We were saying that we were going to give every last ounce of physical and mental energy that we had and leave everything that we had out there between the baselines - which sometimes would literally be blood, sweat and tears. Anything less than giving 100% was completely unacceptable to us. We knew that we might not always win a division title - but when we got to the end of our season, we wanted to be able to look back at EVERY minute of EVERY game and say, "... yup, I left it all on the court. I gave it everything that I had." To have regrets, or to think "man, I wonder what would have happened if I had just played more aggressively, or if I had worked a little harder during practice, or if I hadn't let that taller player intimidate me, or if I had just had confidence that I was going to make that free throw" - that would be something that we would have to live with forever. We couldn't get those moments back.
Fast forward to today. I may not be playing organized basketball anymore [although I'm always down for pickup!] - but now I'm playing the ultimate Game. Now, I'm on the field as a follower of Jesus Christ... and so are many of you. So... what's our mentality? Have we made a commitment to Christ and to one another that we're gonna leave it all on the court? Are we exerting ALL of our effort when we serve Christ? Is serving Him the single most important thing in our lives? How are we spending our free time? How are we spending the money that God's given us? How are we tending to the relationships that God's given us? Are we giving our best to the ministry or ministries that we serve in? Cause eventually, our season is going to be over. And unlike sports teams who have regular schedules and four-year programs, we have no idea when our last day on the active roster might be. But whenever that day comes... and this is part that gets me... we are going to have ETERNITY to look back at the years that we "played" here on earth.
Eternity.
That's forever.
And to have to live forever saying "man, I wonder what would have happened if I had just ran after God more aggressively, or I had just worked a little harder in my ministries, or if I hadn't let that circumstance intimidate me, or if I had just had the confidence that God would give me the words to speak to my unsaved loved ones"? To have to life FOREVER with those thoughts? Now THAT'S something to be afraid of.
We can get so consumed by our life here on earth that it's easy to spend the majority of our day with not a second thought towards eternity. It's so easy for us to subconsciously (or even consciously) think that it's really all about our lives now. We're grindin' at work, thinking about what TV shows are coming on tonight, handling our business and getting up the next day to do it all over again. Of course we have to work and/or go to school and take care of our responsibilities - please don't misinterpret what I'm saying to mean that we should all quit our jobs and pray 24 hours a day. But even those things can be done with an eternal perspective. Is our job just a way to make a buck, or are we seeing that as our current mission field? When we're out with friends, are we putting our "Christian card" away for the night - or are we thinking about how we can build one another up as iron sharpens iron? Most people just don't think like that anymore. That sounds too intense. But is it? Is it too intense to think that Christ, who gave up everything for us, actually cares about EVERY moment of our lives - including when we're pushing numbers on the job or playing Wii with friends?
Call me
crazy, but I think complacency - not scandals in the pulpit or misuses of the
Holy Spirit or anything else – is one of the strongest ropes that's tied around
Christianity in our nation today. Satan's been around for a minute - he's
gotten wise to this weapon. He can't get us into drugs, sex, lying, cheating,
violence and gossip? No problem. He'll just let us get comfortable with your
day-to-day existence and make us complacent with our once-a-week church
attendance and grace before meals. Leave it all on the court? Giving our time,
resources, energy to serving God as much as we possibly can? Let's not get all
radical, now. Well - I don't know about you, but if I only have a few years on
this earth and then eternity to spending looking back at this little blip in my
existence as the ONLY time that I can truly work for the Lord? Yeah, I'm okay
with radical.
I'll admit that I haven't always left it all on the court. I'll admit that there have been times when I've held back and, metaphorically speaking, haven't sacrificed my body to go after that loose ball going out of bounds. But it's pretty cool how God sets it up that our greatest satisfaction in life will come from leaving it all on the court and giving everything we have to Him - regardless of how difficult it is. Last night [March 2009], after BT Kids Night was over, I was a mess. I was sleep-deprived, emotionally drained, dehydrated and physically exhausted. The past few weeks had been incredibly difficult for me on top of planning and facilitating this enormous event - and the minute it was over, everything just hit me at once. I left the church and walked home with tears coming down my face and literally nothing left in me... but through my tears I was able to say, "God, I left it all on the court with this one. I gave everything I had to You."
Can I urge each and every one of you reading this to leave it all on the court for Jesus? Will you give 100% to everything that you do for Him? Will you sacrifice those things that are "permissible but not necessarily beneficial" for things that will bring in a harvest for God's kingdom? Your flesh will fight you. The enemy will fight you. Training isn't easy and it isn't natural. You're not always going to wake up in the morning and say "WOO HOO!! Can't WAIT to pray today!!" But if you make a decision that, by God's grace, you're going to do something no matter how you feel... watch how God provides the grace that you need to do it.
If every Christian were to make a decision to give 100% to the kingdom of God, our entire world would be shaken. We've heard that said before and it's become almost like an "if only" statement and nothing more. So let's stop the wishful thinking and start with us. Nothing held back. No regrets. And when our season is over, let's be able to say that we left it all on the court.
I'll admit that I haven't always left it all on the court. I'll admit that there have been times when I've held back and, metaphorically speaking, haven't sacrificed my body to go after that loose ball going out of bounds. But it's pretty cool how God sets it up that our greatest satisfaction in life will come from leaving it all on the court and giving everything we have to Him - regardless of how difficult it is. Last night [March 2009], after BT Kids Night was over, I was a mess. I was sleep-deprived, emotionally drained, dehydrated and physically exhausted. The past few weeks had been incredibly difficult for me on top of planning and facilitating this enormous event - and the minute it was over, everything just hit me at once. I left the church and walked home with tears coming down my face and literally nothing left in me... but through my tears I was able to say, "God, I left it all on the court with this one. I gave everything I had to You."
Can I urge each and every one of you reading this to leave it all on the court for Jesus? Will you give 100% to everything that you do for Him? Will you sacrifice those things that are "permissible but not necessarily beneficial" for things that will bring in a harvest for God's kingdom? Your flesh will fight you. The enemy will fight you. Training isn't easy and it isn't natural. You're not always going to wake up in the morning and say "WOO HOO!! Can't WAIT to pray today!!" But if you make a decision that, by God's grace, you're going to do something no matter how you feel... watch how God provides the grace that you need to do it.
If every Christian were to make a decision to give 100% to the kingdom of God, our entire world would be shaken. We've heard that said before and it's become almost like an "if only" statement and nothing more. So let's stop the wishful thinking and start with us. Nothing held back. No regrets. And when our season is over, let's be able to say that we left it all on the court.
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize" (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
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