Do you remember being picked for teams back in elementary recess or PE? Or maybe even now when you get together with friends to play football or basketball or chess or the bagpipes or what not. Do you remember what it was like to not be picked first?
It's not so bad to not be first if you are pretty sure that you will be picked in say the top three to five selections for your team. But what about when you aren't in that upper number, or if there aren't that many people to play and you are still about the third or fourth person to be picked and there are only six of you on the team? That feeling isn't quite as nice is it?
I remember when I was a sophomore in high school out in Midland. The Spring of that year (1992) there was an event in Midland that was pretty cool. As a fundraiser a group put together a basketball tournament in the parking lot of one of the bank buildings. They called it Hoopla and it was a three on three outdoor half court tournament. Each team was allowed to have one sub and the cost was about $25 per player. Some of my friends happened to be putting a team together for this first year and one of the guys who had planned to play was not going to be able to do so. Because of that I was invited to join in and be a part of the team. I was a decent player when it came to basketball but far from great. I was probably the lowest level player on our team in fact. I realized this, but I still thought I was good enough to contribute to the cause.
This was a double elimination tournament so we were guaranteed to have at least two games. The morning of the event, we got there early for our first game and figured out who would be starting in that game and who would be the sub, with the understanding that the sub would get to start in the second game of the day and so on. I believe that we won at least one of our first two games therefore giving us a third game albeit a game that was a must win for us. It was this game that holds the crux of this story. As we were getting ready to take the court, I mentioned something about it being my turn to start a game rather than starting as the sub again. Because of the fact that we needed to win this game to stay alive in the tournament there was a little bit of pressure that was being felt by the other players. As I was mentioning the fact that I was supposed to get to be in the game first, my friend told me this "But we really need to win this game." Now whether he meant it to be taken the way I interpreted it or not, this is the message that I heard from him: "Thanks for being here, but now that we really need to win, you're just not good enough." I think he realized very quickly how I had taken that and felt bad about it, but the damage had been done. I was good enough to be "on" the team, just not good enough to help them win.
In the end it didn't really matter anyway. We lost that game and were eliminated. But that feeling has stuck with me for a few years now (as you can read). It is that feeling of not being good enough, and it is a feeling that we have all had at one time or another. It's not a good feeling really.
In Zechariah 3 we see this kind of scene playing out in front of God. satan (small "s" for the name is the "middle finger of grammar") is accusing Jeshua (Joshua, and here standing in for Jerusalem) of being full of sin and basically not being "good enough" to part of God's "team." Yet as satan brings forth these accusations God silences him saying "I, the Lord, reject your accusations satan. Yes, the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you." That is a powerful and awesome statement not in the least due to the fact that satan was probably right in his accusations. Jerusalem was sinful yet God chose her and made her spotless in his sight (read the rest of the chapter).
The same is true for us now as well. There are times, perhaps daily even, that satan accuses you of all your past sins and wrong doings. He tries to make us feel that we just aren't quite up to snuff to really make any kind of contribution to God's kingdom. And as he does this, Jesus steps in and says "No, you're wrong. See I have chosen this person as mine and they have what it takes to play a big role in advancing my Kingdom." Don't forget that. Jesus has chosen you to have an impact in his Kingdom. No matter what the accuser says, Jesus has chosen you and what satan says has no bearing or sway over that. Peace and Love y'all.
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