UNPACK this...Struggling With SelfishnessSample

Shot Selection And God's Best

Can you imagine playing in the final minute of an NCAA Tournament game when it’s back and forth and your team has a chance to win? Factor in the pressure, the crowd, and being 20 years old-the feeling must be overwhelming.

My concern while watching these crucial moments, is guys forcing up deep 3’s or throwing off-balance shots while fading away. I don’t understand why players take unnecessary 3’s when their team is only down one or they have the lead. 

Although the atmosphere is intense and the plays happen fast, poor shot selection usually reveals a level of impatience (unnecessarily rushing it), selfishness (wanting to be the hero who takes the final shot), and lack of awareness (not seeing an open teammate underneath the basket).

Typically, the result is a player settling for a bad shot that he ends up missing…and a team losing because of it. 

Thinking about players and their shot selection reminds me of the moments we settle for “bad shots.” How often do we rush a decision by “throwing up a shot” too hastily?

What about the times we want to be the hero and our pride and selfishness force an "off-balanced shot"…or we lack awareness of what’s going on and miss out on “passing the ball” to an open teammate?

Instead of taking impatient, selfish, and unaware “shots,” we must learn to trust God to show us the “right shots.” When we settle for “bad shots,” we aren’t experiencing the better options available - God’s best for us.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “You can never please God without faith, without depending on Him. Anyone who wants to come to God must believe that there is a God and that He rewards those who sincerely look for Him.”

2 Corinthians 5:15 says, “He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.”

Today, let’s be challenged to closely follow Jesus and live for Him, so we stop taking “bad shots” and experience His best for us!

I’m Bryce Johnson and you can UNPACK that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for the new life I have in Christ. Please help me to make the right shots and not settle for anything less than Your best. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.