Day 6 - Go Practice With the Cheerleaders 

In high school, I loved playing sports. My yearly schedule went as follows: basketball, baseball, football, repeat. I was never the most talented athlete but what I lacked in natural ability, I made up for in effort. My basketball coach was a hard-nosed, old-school kind of guy. He chose a tear-you-down, then build-you-back-up approach and was always finding colorful ways to criticize me. One day, as I stepped on the court for practice after school, I heard Coach shout, “West, what are you doing here?! The cheerleaders are practicing on the other end of the gym! That’s where you belong.”  

Knowing this was a test to see how I would respond, I shook my head and yelled, “No, sir! I’m here to earn my spot.” I spent the rest of practice showing Coach what I was made of. During one drill, myself and another teammate had to fight over the basketball as it rolled down the hardwood floor. ‘This is my chance,’ I thought as I ran and wrestled that ball away from the other player. My hustle resulted in a nasty fall on the hardwood floor that left my chin split open and bleeding, (I still have the scar from the stitches). With blood on my face and jersey, the basketball in my hands, and a proud grin on the coach’s face, I knew I had won his approval… at least for one day. 

I wonder if you’ve ever found yourself viewing God like I viewed my basketball coach; a hard-to-please authority figure whose approval must be earned. Living with a distorted view of God will lead to a distorted view of His grace. In our minds, it can make more sense to think that our performance will win God’s approval. ‘If I do this, then I earn this.’ But Ephesians 2:8 tells us about a God who loves us despite our spiritual win/loss record. “For it is by Grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” God isn’t standing over you with a look of disappointment when you’ve failed to live up to His standards. He stays with you through every rise and every fall and His grace is a free gift.