Getting Picked For The Team: Morning Watch Mondays

In just a few weeks The Masters golf tournament will take place in Augusta, Georgia. This tournament is the first of four “Major” competitions in the sport of golf, and signifies it is officially Spring for many of us. Jim Nance’s voice and pictures of the pristine course are accompanied by the sounds of birds chirping in the background, leaving us mesmerized and fading in and out of an elated slumber. It touts itself as “a tradition unlike any other”, and I wouldn’t have argued much… until I saw the NBA All-Star game last week.

The NBA did a live draft. They set their All-Stars on a stage in front of everyone, and one by one they were selected to one of two teams in order of who the Team Captains preferred. As you’d imagine, the first few guys chosen walked up with puffed out chests feeling GREAT about themselves for being top choices. Yet as the picks continued, you could see the unpicked players behind them start to drop their heads into their hands, trying to laugh off the public humility of not being chosen near the beginning. There was nowhere for them to hide as the other players, the ticket holders, and a live television audience of over 6 million fans watched them remain seated while others were chosen before them.

THAT is a “tradition unlike any other” in my life! The drama unfolding that night captured me as familiar emotions of wanting to be chosen on the team swelled within me. Every basketball player from ages 8 to 80 knows exactly how that feels. In every backyard, gymnasium, or playground since its conception, the game of basketball has begun the same way: ten people are chosen to make up two teams. The rest are out of luck. There may not have been 6 million people watching me all throughout all of those years of games I played growing up, but my heart cried out with the exact same feeling as the guys’ hearts at the All-Star game that night: I want to be at the top of someone’s list!

It is difficult to believe that someone as successful as an NBA player could have the exact same needs and desires that you and I do. We all want to be chosen, to be seen as valuable. That game made it clear to me that no amount of success can keep us from comparing ourselves to others. At some point, we will all wonder whether we are enough and acceptable, feeling the need to be fully loved and wanted. Where do we turn to for these answers?

Just like Lebron and Giannis picked who they wanted at the All-Star game, ultimately your value in life is determined by how the Team Captain sees you. If you think of God as our Team Captain in life, you can find peace in the fact that He already sees you as valuable!

Have you ever worried that you might be last to be picked for God’s “All-Star team”? After all, there’s a lot of people in the world to compare yourself to! You might have worried, does God choose me based on how many good things I’ve done, or how many bad things I haven’t done? Do I need to make sure my heart is free of bad thoughts before I can be with Him, or do I always need to be thinking nice things?

Let this Good News dispel all your worries: God has already chosen you! Here is better news: God does not choose you based on how many bad things you think you’ve done, nor based on how many good things you think you’ve done either. He chooses us because of His own Grace and Mercy, and we need Him!