47Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like:48He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.49But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great."
The external circumstances in both examples were the same, but the internal foundation was different - and the house built on the rock withstood the waves, whereas the house built on the earth, encountered great ruin. What an incredible message for our lives - God is calling us, as verse 48 says, to "dig deep." A strong foundation for our lives is built on Biblical truth, with a reliance on God's Word to govern our lives, to be so implanted deeply within our hearts that we act according to its principles when the circumstances of our lives seem to spin out of control. God is our Rock, our source of strength, and He will sustain us.
God desires for us to build our lives on the firm foundation of His truth and the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, that we might live for Him and reflect His presence. Ephesians 2 can encourage us to accept the free gift of salvation and recognize that Jesus will work in and through you:
8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,9not of works, lest anyone should boast.10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
With the Men's Final Four closing out last night and the Women's championship taking place tonight, I thought I would share a bit about a former player for the University of Connecticut, also known as UCONN. Here's a story that has been re-posted to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes website in celebration of their 60th anniversary, originally published in 2010 in FCA's Sharing the Victory magazine.
Los Angeles has so many potential distractions and pitfalls for young kids growing up there. But, in my own life, because God had blessed me with a solid faith in Him through the instruction of my mother, I was able to avoid most of them.After playing for UCONN, he went to the Continental Basketball Association, then came to the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks. One of his teammates was A.C. Green. He said that with all the worldly attractions, "A.C. made sure that God was the only thing I was attracted to. He explained to me that I had to take time for God and not follow the crowd. It was great to have someone of his stature and faith in my corner, and I stayed under his wing. I really owe him a lot for giving me that foundation and letting me know that it was cool to love Christ and play basketball."
This former player averaged about a team a year for about a decade and a half in the NBA. He said that,
Sometimes I’ve asked God why I couldn’t just stay on one team, but, as I look back on it, I’m glad God took me that way because I learned how to depend on Him. When I was weak, He made me strong. I learned to understand more about unconditional love. When you’re in those valleys, He is right there with you. He has been a great God to me—my Rock and my Support. When I would get cut from a team or told I wasn’t good enough, God never cut me. He never said I wasn’t good enough.
God has given me the gift of playing basketball, and I have to be a good steward of this NBA platform. It is my calling, but it’s not just about basketball. I can be a basketball player and a God-fearing man, and that’s what I want people to see. Basketball has given me wonderful opportunities, but, if it wasn’t for Jesus dying on the cross for me, I wouldn’t have had any of them.In the FCA article, he stated that he wanted to become a coach. And, God has opened the door for this young man to coach in the college ranks - in fact, he is now the head coach for his alma mater, and just last night, Kevin Ollie received the trophy as the coach of the NCAA men's basketball champion UCONN Huskies, in just his second year at the helm.
What a back story, with some insight into the faith of a man who took over a program that had been placed on probation and led it to championship glory. Kevin Ollie can provide inspiration for each of us, as well.
First of all, he demonstrates the power of influence that strong mentors have. Not only was his mother a strong woman who provided Christian instruction for him, but he had a teammate in A.C. Green who was willing to challenge him in his spiritual walk. We have to be willing to be taught and encouraged by the people God places in our lives and be open to allowing God to use us to disciple and mentor others. This is especially important for parents, as we recognize the God-given responsibility that we have to bring our children up in the ways of the Lord and to model our faith and teach them His principles.
Ollie is also someone who showed a tenacity even when the journey is less-than-secure. He played on numerous NBA teams, and apparently didn't stay anywhere very long. But, he can inspire us to think that even though our circumstances may fluctuate, Jesus is our Rock, our firm foundation. We can hold on to His unchanging hand even when we encounter shifts in our lives. He desires for us to rely on Him and His strength.
Kevin Ollie said that it's not all about basketball. Coaching basketball is what he does, but it's not what defines him. And, keep in mind that our performance should ideally be an outgrowth of the identity we have in Jesus Christ. If God allows us to succeed in a profession or other pursuit, we recognize that it is a platform through which we can testify to the greatness of God in us. So, we can be encouraged by the story of Kevin Ollie, and realize that our lives reflect the foundation upon which they are built - may we be motivated to continue to work on that foundation.
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