Let’s Go! FCA DevotionalSample

Looking Up

Amanda Tewksbury

Ready: 

“Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” -Matthew 16:23

Set:

I cringe when I see my basketball players dribble with their head down.  They are looking down because they don’t trust where the basketball will go if they look up.  Their perspective is small and slow to trust in their abilities, and consequently, it affects their ability to see the court and be effective.  

Jesus’ mission to die and resurrect to fulfill God’s plan of redemption was not on Peter’s concern list in Matthew ch.16.  Peter was concerned about Jesus leaving them and not fulfilling what Peter was hoping Jesus would fulfill because of His upcoming death.  It’s almost like Peter missed the fact that right before this Jesus said He would rise on the third day (v.21).

We all have expectations about what God should do for us, our families, our teams, our community, our world.  Do those expectations hinder us from being able to see God’s concerns?  The good news is that Peter may have stumbled and wanted the “human concern” things but he ended his life with acting out of God’s concerns and not his own.  In our athletic experiences, may we keep our head up and our heart attuned to God’s bigger picture story of redemption, no matter what the current situation looks like, and move forward after the times we realize our heads were down.

Go

1. How might your expectations hinder you in any way from seeking God’s ultimate purposes as your main perspective?

2. When have you felt you remembered the bigger picture in trials as an athlete or coach?  How can you allow God to help you to do that in the future?

Workout

John 21:18-19

Galatians 6:9

Overtime

Psalm 51:10-13 

“God, help me to see Your concerns and Your redemptive work at the forefront of my mind in and out of competition, no matter what the situation.  Amen.”