CHARGER NATION: GAME #8
Charger Nation,
Last night our JV season and our middle school season came to an end. Our middle school team lost their championship game. I am very proud of the resiliency of our middle school players and coaching staff. Yes, we would have rather gone out with a win, but I like how they battled at the end of the season. Our JV team won their league by beating Mays High School 48-6. They finished the season with a 6-0 record. I want to thank our varsity coaching staff for the time, effort, and energy they put into those boys. Our varsity staff coaches our JV. Josh Worsham is our JV head coach and he does an awesome job.
It has been very enjoyable to watch our 9thgraders and 10thgraders improve this year. We make them work out everyday and then we coach them everyday. Part of the reason we practice so long on Monday’s and Tuesday’s is so we can fit JV development time in. I have watched boys start off the season and grow into legitimate 2ndstring varsity players. I have watched our JV defensive backs guard three division 1 wide receivers in practice everyday. You guys see three interceptions last night but you don’t see them doing a fantastic job guarding the varsity wide receivers everyday. I am not surprised with our interceptions. The boys have been working. Good things come to those who work. I could go over each position and say the same things.
Middle school parents, I will get your boys in the weight room and we will develop them. We are a school that takes players and develops them and demands excellence from them. The improvement you see from 9thgrade to 12thgrade is the best in the country. Some kids will quit and some will stay. THOSE WHO STAY WILL BECOME CHAMPIONS! Your son will get 100% better each year if you keep him with me and support me in what I demand from them.
“For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” Luke 16:15
As I was reading through Luke this week this verse caught my attention. Jesus was talking the Pharisees in this particular moment. The Pharisees were religious people who on the surface seemed good but their hearts were bad. They would do good deeds for selfish gain. They would use people to gain power. They would use God to promote themselves and try to attain worldly glory. They were desperate for the approval and acceptance of man.
In many ways we are just like the Pharisees. They didn’t know their actions were wicked. They did not understand that God analyzes the intentions of our heart when we do something. God does not look at their actions and give them a stamp of approval; God looked deep into their heart to see why they were doing what they were doing.
So, in this verse Jesus is calling the things they celebrate over, even in God’s name, an abomination. They hated Jesus for this. They wanted people to see their good deeds and glorify them for it. Jesus exposed the hypocrisy of their good deeds. He tells them the only reason they good deeds is so they may receive glory from the men around them. They would do good deeds but then prey upon unmarried women and widows. They would do good deeds as long as the public was watching, but then bypass a beat up man on the side of the street if no one was watching. They would do good deeds, but make excuses why they didn’t have to serve their parents when their parents could no longer take care of themselves. They would do good deeds but they make up rules and laws for the people to keep that they themselves would not keep. They were liars and thieves at the core but tried to mask it with a beautiful surface.
The Pharisees were desperate to look good on the surface but deep down on the inside they were wicked. They wanted the public to see them as a servant but they were corrupt and wicked on the inside. Jesus exposed the corruption of their hearts. He exposed their secret sins. He told them: “It doesn’t matter what you do or how great an act it is, it is an abomination in my sight. It is an abomination because your motives and your intentions are wrong. You people take advantage of people. You destroy people. You are users.” Because Jesus exposed them, the Pharisees hated him. They killed him.
The only way we are going to keep our motives pure is to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. As we seek Christ and read his word, the Lord exposes to us our sin. As he exposes to us our sin we see the evil intentions we have in our hearts. Proverbs 3:5-6 talks about how God will make our paths straight. By ourselves he will be crooked. I like the word pure. God makes our relationships and our pursuits pure. He makes our motives pure. And by pure I mean every thought and action processed through the lens of Jesus Christ. In anything that I say or do I ask: “Does this honor God? Is this for God’s glory or is it for my own?” (*well the goal is to always ask ourselves this and live this way. Sometimes I don’t and when I move and act without seeking God I usually sin.)
As I was pondering over this verse and thinking about all of this I began to think about how lost this world is. We live our lives striving to gain the world and to what end? We are desperate for our kids to get the best educations and get the best jobs. The only reason we want this is so they can make the most money or be something this world considers valuable. We are very much like the Pharisees. We care desperately about the things of the world and our hearts are sick. We raise our children to be enslaved to the world and the approval of the world. Being slaves we create slaves.
God wants us to do our best but for his glory. He doesn’t want us to do our best so we can make a lot of money or go to what the world considers the best college. At the end of the day, the money I make and the college I go to are sources of pride and acceptance for me. Just like the Pharisees, we are into self-promotion and glory. God knows the end of this is death. Chasing these things will lead to your demise.
I am not saying these things are bad. You must analyze why you want what you want. That is what God does for us with a relationship with him. He shows us the sin of our actions. God wants us to be our best. But he wants us to do it for his glory. This is why we were created. God knows that if we are chasing our own glory we will become further and further enslaved to sin and death.
The world whispers to us that if we can only attain this (whatever your this is) then we will be happy. The world tells us we will arrive when we attain this (whatever your this is). We listen and we chase and it is never enough. In our chasing glory and the things of this world we destroy our families and friendships.
Just like us, the Pharisees were chasing worldly power and glory. They were raising up their children to chase worldly power and glory. They were using and abusing people. On the surface they looked sweet, innocent and good. But on the inside they were wretched. Jesus exposed them. We are the Pharisees and the story is for us. Jesus wants to transform us and make us men and women who truly impact the world for good. He wants to make us men and women who live for his glory and find the joy for which we were created. God knows this world will kill us. He knows this world is in rebellion against him. He wants to save us. We must give him our lives.
In thinking about all of this, a verse from Psalm 84 popped into my mind. The verse popped into my mind but and I knew it was in the Psalms but I had no idea where. I’m not smart enough to have every verse memorized and where it is. Google helped me find the exact location:
“For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.” Psalm 84:10
I cannot fully understand this verse yet and I am praying I can taste it and see it. However, I know this: I was made for God and his glory. I find joy and peace in this life by seeking Christ and doing things to bring him glory and honor. The more I make it about me the more desperate, worrisome, and anxious I become. The more I make it about Christ the more I rest in his sovereign power. When it is about my glory my actions are not pure and my heart is not pure. When it is for God’s glory he enters into every thought and every relationship and he makes it pure and right.
The height of any coach’s career must be to win a national championship. I thought about Dabo Swinney because I know he is a Christian. The exclamation mark on Coach Swinney’s career was the national championship he won two years ago. I imagine the feeling he had as he held that trophy up in front of 1000’s of cheering fans was amazing. I know when we win the moments after are just moments of great peace and satisfaction you cannot replicate on a daily basis in life.
But as I was thinking about that joy and satisfaction that Coach Swinney had in that moment and that night and even into the next day, it pales in comparison to what we will experience in the courts of our Lord and Savior. This verse promises us that this one day coach Swinney had winning a championship, he can have 1000 of these days in a row, as one day in the Lord’s courts is better than 1000 of our best days.
Our problem is we cannot imagine the good that is waiting for us and is for us now in Christ Jesus. We are so enslaved to our sin and this world that we cannot taste and see the Lord is good. We cannot see his courts. We do not long to be his presence unstained from sin. We are so enslaved to this world, the approval of man, and seeking glory we are blind. But I pray, I pray God will open our eyes and our hearts to his goodness. That we will see He is the reason we have been created. That we will value Jesus Christ and the blood he shed on the cross so that we may be forgiven of our sins and reunited with the Father. That he will make our ways pure and we will live for his glory. This is life and life abundantly!
Our boys are ready! I’m fired up to play tonight! BEAT Strong Rock!
“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.”
“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.”
Proverbs 21:31
Wholly for Christ,
Coach Gess
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