Nick Young thought he nailed it but missed the mark.
Those that know me know that I’m a
basketball junkee. Since I’ve been on a
health and fitness journey for over 8 months now I’ve used my love of
basketball as an incentive to get my butt into shape. My weight loss journey started in July by
simply moving more and eating less. It’s
a simple plan I hear preached all the time by my uncle Chet and it has worked
great. When the temperature outside
dropped as winter neared I had to deal with an obstacle to my walking and
jogging routine so I decided to join a fitness center and move my work
indoors. The biggest perk of this change
has been my access to a basketball court.
Every time I go to the fitness center I face the temptation to skip my
cardio workout and weight workout so I can simply shoot around or play in some
pick-up games. Because I love playing I’ve
turned it into my reward for doing the work I need to do. If I do the work I need to do then I get to
do the thing I love to do. On the
mornings that I leave work and want to go home and crawl into bed it is
basketball that gets me to stop by the fitness center and burn more calories.
A couple of weeks ago I was shooting
around with some guys at church when something very common in the basketball
world happened. As we were finishing up,
pastor Brandon wanted to ‘finish on a make’.
I don’t know when this shooting concept started but it is something that
predates me because I definitely remember as a 7th grader being told
by a coach at practice to ‘finish on a make’.
Basically you want to make your last shot of practice. I’m not sure if it’s something superstitious or
if it is supposed to be about leaving on a positive note but it’s something
reinforced with basketball regulars.
It was in this moment at the church
gym that I let pastor Brandon and the other guys with us know that I had been
doing something particularly odd. Since
joining the fitness center and getting quality basketball practice time I had been
finishing my practices on a miss. If I’m
shooting free throws to end my morning, I leave after a miss. If I’m practicing a dribble move into a
jumpshot to end my practice, I finish on a miss. I received some confused looks from the guys
when I told them my new routine because it is counter cultural in a basketball
sense. So why do I end on a miss instead of a make? Because for me it is a reminder that there’s
still more work to do. There’s still
room for improvement and the only way for me to improve is for me to get back
out onto the court and keep practicing.
Finishing on a ‘make’ lends itself to the attitude of ‘I’ve got this’. ‘Nailed it!’ Why would someone with that attitude need to come
back the next day to practice? Finishing
on a ‘miss’, however, is a lesson in humility.
It is a very real reminder that even though this particular practice
session is finished, my abilities as a basketball player are not, and judging
by that last ‘miss’ I should be back as soon as possible to work on my game. While missing a shot can seem negative on the
surface, it can be in many ways a motivational tool for future success.
This leads me to the topic of
repentance and the Christian life.
Repentance is, or at least should be, woven into the fabric of a
believers spiritual life. The aim of a
believer is to look more and more like Christ and repentance is about when we miss that
mark. In the court of life you have
numerous opportunities to look like Jesus. On which of those daily opportunities did you
‘nail it’? How many of those
opportunities were a ‘brick’ that were nowhere close to looking like Jesus? Maybe instead of trying and failing, or
trying and succeeding, you didn’t even try at all. Perhaps instead of taking a shot you passed
on the opportunity altogether. When it
comes to looking like Jesus there is always room for improvement. There’s always more work to be done. Another day has another set of challenges.
What I want to suggest is that you,
as a person desiring to look more and more like Christ, should end your day
remembering a ‘miss’. As your head hits
the pillow say a prayer of repentance. Not
because of the children’s prayer ‘If I should die before I wake, I pray the
Lord my soul to take’ but because a prayer of repentance at the end of the day can
set your course for tomorrow. The Spirit isn’t done shaping you into
Christlikeness. You aren’t done
growing. That’s the whole point of this
blog!
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. 2
Peter 3:18
This blog is how I work through the
ways in which God is stretching me because He’s not done with me yet and
repentance is a part of that growing process.
The fact of the matter is that as I try to imitate a guy that so
sacrificially loved others that he allowed himself to be nailed to a cross on
their behalf, I most definitely haven’t ‘nailed it’. If anyone needs to grow in grace it’s me, and
I’m not going to grow if I walk into each day arrogantly remembering only my ‘makes’. Remembering the ways in which I missed the
mark reminds me of my need for the work of the Spirit. Perhaps today needs to start with an “I’m
sorry.” to someone you wronged yesterday.
Perhaps you passed on the opportunity to be an agent of peace in the
workplace yesterday but a new opportunity is on your doorstep today. I don’t know what yesterday was like for you
but I’m certain it wasn’t all ‘makes’. And
that’s alright. Don’t beat yourself up
over it but also don’t deny that you could have done better. You could have had more grace. You could have had more patience. You could have listened more. Remember your ‘misses’ and lean in to the
work of the Spirit as you grow in Christlikeness. It’s an odd way to end your day but it just
may be what you need to change how you go into your tomorrow! Grace and peace!