Undaunted.Life: A Man's DevotionalSample

SPIRITUAL, Day 4: Rivalry vs. Mentorship

A transition from one legend to another…

If only every NFL franchise were as lucky as the San Francisco 49'ers. The changing of the guard from Joe Montana to Steve Young will likely go down as one of the single greatest and most valuable transitions in all of sports history, but it wasn’t a smooth transition in the least bit.

Montana led the 49'ers to Super Bowl victories in 1981 and 1984. However, in the two subsequent seasons they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs and Montana suffered a back injury that required surgery. This led ownership and management for San Francisco to start thinking about life after Montana.

This manifested itself in the form of a young gunslinger named Steve Young. The 49'ers traded for Young in 1987 and planned for him to be the heir apparent to Montana. From the moment Young arrived at training camp, there was a tension that grew between himself and the soon-to-be-legendary Montana. It wasn’t that the two strongly disliked one another, it was that they both simply wanted the exact same thing: to be the starting QB of the San Francisco 49'ers.

Further fueling this growing tension and feud was that the two QB's couldn’t have been any more different. Montana was “Joe Cool” and Young had a reputation for almost nervous intensity. Montana was a pocket passer and Young loved to tuck and run with the football.

The reality of their situation was that every time Montana had a bad stretch of games, there were grumblings that perhaps it was time to “give the kid a shot.” The kid did eventually get his shot but probably not in the way he would have preferred. Going into the 1990 season, Montana was coming off two straight Super Bowl victories with Young as his backup. However, Montana injured himself in the playoffs that year, and that opened the door for the Steve Young era to begin. Montana essentially missed the entire 1991 and 1992 seasons and was eventually traded to the Kansas City Chiefs in 1993, officially ending his run as the face of the 49'ers franchise.

The biggest issue between the two was their rivalry with one another. Montana wanted to keep his position at the helm of the team, and Young wanted him to move out of the way so he could secure his own chance at stardom. Montana didn’t really want to help the guy wanting to take his job, and Young didn’t really want his help anyway. It was all about the rivalry and not about mentorship. The same cannot be said for the transition from Moses to Joshua.

As we see in the Old Testament, Moses was the definitive leader for the Jewish people. He is arguably the most important figure in all of Jewish history, but every good run has its end point. At the beginning of Deuteronomy 31, we see that the 120-year-old Moses is slowing down. He knows that his days leading the nation of Israel are numbered. At this point, he has a choice to make: will he selfishly absolve himself from helping with the leadership transition or will he be a mentor who shows the way?

Surely we can surmise that Moses had two main goals during this period:

1. Choose a worthy successor.
2. Help put him on the right path.

We can see in verse seven that Moses chose Joshua as his successor, and in the same verse we see him tell Joshua to “be strong and courageous” in his leadership. At first glance, you might think that Moses is telling Joshua that the source of his strength, courageousness, and leadership comes from within himself. However, as we see in verse eight, Moses tells Joshua that the source of spiritual strength that he will need to lead comes from God who will go before him and watch over the Jews. This is why Joshua can and should operate devoid of fear because the ultimate source of power in the universe is in his corner.

As men, we tend to believe that spiritual strength comes only from our effort. We read Bible plans, go to small group meetings, and volunteer at church. While all of those things do benefit us spiritually, we must remember that no amount of personal accomplishment can become the source of our spiritual strength.

Do you have a spiritual mentor like Moses was to Joshua? Do you find yourself gauging your spiritual strength by how many church-based activities you’re doing?