Basketball isn't everything...

This weekend I watched the movie Coach Carter. I enjoyed the movie and it’s message. Sure it had it’s share of the unpleasant language mixed with some very slight sexual innuendo and just a splash of violence but the message was a good one. If you’ve seen the movie then you know what it’s all about and if you have yet to see it (which I strongly suggest) I’ll try to give you the premise, at it’s most basic and elementary level, without giving the movie away.
Ken Carter (Coach Carter) comes to the troubled high school as a former basketball player at the school and a now successful business man. He has more than enough going on in his life without adding the pressures of a high school coaching position. But, after thinking things through he decides to accept the job along with it’s obviously monumental challenges. Coach Carter’s primary objective as basketball coach was, more than simply winning basketball games, to in some way make a difference in the lives of the teenagers he would be responsible for coaching.
In short, at one point in the movie Coach Carter temporarily ended the teams season when the grades of some of the players fell below a certain agreed upon GPA. Not only did he (Coach Carter) lock the gym and cancel practice, he also canceled the scheduled games as the players worked, as a team, to bring their academics back into line. Coach Carter’s comments (in my own paraphrase) to the parents and concerned community who desperately wanted to see the season resume, despite grades, was something like this… “Some things are more important than basketball…” Short, sweet and simple? Yes; but incredibly meaningful if we allow it to permeate every aspect of our lives and, more importantly, our relationship with Christ. Also, throughout the movie, Coach Carter spoke often of choices and the consequences of choices.
After watching this movie and spending a little time reflecting on it’s underlying message, I can’t help but think of the world we live in today. It seems as though there are so many things that take precedent over our relationship with God. We seem to think, or at least indicate through our actions and established priorities, that our relationship with God through Jesus Christ should find it’s home far down on life’s list of important things.
I’ve often heard people say, “Jesus is number one in my life…” Over the past couple of years I’ve considered that comment often… and the more I mull it over the more I’m convinced that it is the wrong attitude. Now hold on a minute, before you seek to bring me up on heresy charges, hear me out. The scripture never tells us to make Jesus number one in our lives… what it says is this, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.” (1 Peter 3:15a) We’re not told to make Christ number one… making Him number one would indicate that we had placed Him atop a list, meaning that He could be pushed down that list whenever we felt it appropriate. If we make Jesus number one, what will stop us, at least from time to time, from making Him number two, three or even fifteen? We must, in my opinion, put Christ in a category all alone. We must place Him in a separate category, set Him apart if you will, and it must be a category that offers us no chance to re-prioritize, moving Jesus down a slot or two.
I know what you’re thinking; you’re thinking, “Come on Greg, that’s just a play on words…” Well, in that case, I would encourage you to consider it not as a ‘play on words’ but rather as a way to reshape our thinking; a way of thinking that says, “No matter what changes on my list of priorities, no matter what urgent and pressing matters occur, no matter what unexpected situations life throws at me, Jesus will ALWAYS be in a separate category, a category above my life and it’s worldly priorities.” We must come to a place in our lives, as Christians, where we can say, without hesitation, “Jesus is not the number one thing in my life, He IS my life!”
In the movie, the boy’s on Coach Carter's basketball team reaped the rewards of a life of purpose. Coach Carter taught those boys that there we more important things in their lives than basketball and, as a result of their new way of thinking, their lives were forever changed. Isn’t it time that all of us realize that ‘our life’ isn’t the most important thing in ‘our life’. The label of ‘Most Important’, in each of our lives, belongs to Jesus and that label must forever remain on Him.
Kick that around a little and let me know what you think… trust me I need as much help here as anyone else. I think it will make an incredible difference in our lives when we realize, accept and embrace that mindset. Let’s discover, together, how we can take Jesus off ‘Life’s List’ and make Him ‘Our Life’!