Good Day / Bad Day Performance

Athletes are often judged by their performances. In fact, in many professional contracts, players have incentives or bonus options based on their performances. Think back over the years of all the great players in a variety of sports who have been to the top and fell due to injury or lack of focus. Think of the others who have played well for years, but simply hung on to long. In either scenario, praise and criticism have wrapped themselves around their lives.

I have been reading and thinking through a study of grace. And in that study, I have to admit that I (we), Christians, wrap ourselves with a performance based contract as well. We live in a good day / bad day mentality. If we do all the right things (rise early for study and prayer, give to the needy, etc) then God will bless our day and our lives as a result. But, if we don't do all the right things (sleep in, have frustrations, speak poorly of others, etc) then we believe God will not bless us. What a trap and contradiction of the scripture. Yes the scripture speaks of our fruits and calls us to become disciples, but it all begins with excepting God's grace. Therefore, the two - grace and performance - go together. The problem is, we separate the two and then confuse the results of what God is really doing.

In order for us to live without the good day / bad day performance, we have to remind ourselves of the scripture. First, we must preach the gospel to ourselves daily. For the person who thinks that the bad day has ruined their blessings, reflect on Romans 8:1, "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." And for the one who thinks the day has been good with bountiful blessings as a result, reflect on Matthew 5:48, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." There is never a day we can stand on our own performances and be worthy of His blessings in our lives. Author Jerry Bridges says it this way, " Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace.

The answer to performance based lifestyles is the gospel. Daily reflecting on the gospel message of God's love for you and I in such a way that we are drawn to obedience as a result of that love, rather than our performances. God does not examine our performances to see how or if we are worthy. He looks to see if we are trusting in His Son as our hope for securing His blessing.

Staying the Course

Recently I had the opportunity to work with a volunteer through the details of facility management during an Upward basketball event. The day is typically a nine hour day that involves lots of people, coaches, ref’s, concession workers, scoreboards, sound, and videos. All of which are happening at the same time.

As the day began, we prompted a certain video to work during the halftime presentation of the scripture message. While it worked previously, it decided not to work during the trial run. As someone who desires good first impressions, I asked the volunteer (who is more comfortable with technology than I am) to come back to my office. It was there I gave him a five minute tutorial on verbally sharing a devotion “in case” the video fails again. While I could sense the “fret” inside of him of what I was asking him to do, he never said “I can’t” or “I won’t.” He simply listened and rehearsed the written devotion. His last words before the games began were, “I can do this.” We prayed and the day moved forward.

Nine hours later, I (the one who put new actions in motion to ensure first impressions as a result of my lack of technological faith) found myself rejoicing in the game room with a loud applause to God for seeing to it that the video series worked ALL six games! Two lessons I pondered after this day: 1.) Why am I always creating second plans in the midst of my unknowns or worries and 2.) This volunteer expressed a servant’s heart that didn’t want to let down a leader despite internal fears of having to verbally speak before the crowd.

God is always at work in our lives. For me, God was demonstrating the need to trust Him and the course for day. For the volunteer, he was willing to do what was asked of him and as a result, God provided in a way that he didn’t have to live up to what would be an unplanned challenge for him. Here’s the take away of this Upward basketball day - God always calls us to trust him and when we respond to what He calls / ask us to do, He will provide in such ways that glorify Him (as well as ease our internal tensions ).