HWJC - Love the Way You’ve Been Loved (Bot9 #175)
After an eye-opening conversation with a couple of his players, coach Justin Tucker decides to follow the advice of his mentor, Coach Bill Petersen, and go on a journey to rediscover why he still coaches the game. Tucker, a head baseball coach and main character of Well Coached, just lost another state title game, and lost his cool during his postgame speech with the team. Today he gets to take his first step in rediscovering his passion to coach kids and the game of baseball. After an email from Coach Petersen telling Justin that he'll be watching a big-league homestand from the inside, he travels to meet Rick, a friend of Justin's who works with a big-league team and has some sound advice for him:
“While Billy Beane shaped their organization’s success by finding pitchers who get guys out and hitters who get on base, as Christians we need to shape how we glorify God by the way we love. Specifically, how we love God and love others. Why did God create you? To glorify God. How do you glorify God? Do what He asked you to do through the words of His Son, Jesus Christ. What did He ask you to do? Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself. How do you love God and love your neighbor? Focus on relationships. Value relationships.”
Justin flashed back to the day before when David and Brock came by the house. Was this what they were saying to him? That somehow Justin started to value winning over relationships?
Rick continued, “Make no mistake - loving God is your number one priority. These two commandments are different. God the Father should always be our number one focus. However, the second one is still similar. The love we show our neighbors stems from our relationship with God. Jesus was asked, ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?’ Jesus replied to this man with love God and love your neighbor, because if you do those two things, you do the entire law. Love had come down from heaven to look he and the other Pharisees in the eye. He came down and did something that no one in the history of the world could do: He lived a perfect life in accordance with the law. He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. He did all of this through love and relationships.
If you want to find your purpose for coaching again, get back to your purpose on this earth - love God and love your neighbors. Follow Jesus.”
The first lesson of Well Coached is this: "Love as you've been loved" and is reflected in Christ's greatest commandments. It is our call to love God because he first loved us. What a blessing that he first loved us and now have the opportunity to love him! Secondly, the overflow of our love of God should be reflected in how we love one another. When we focus on living in right, loving relationship with God and others, we will be able to fulfill our purpose, no matter what that may be. For Coach Tucker, that means a clearer definition in how to coach.
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