February 20, 2024

One of my favorite basketball players of all time is Larry Bird. Larry was an amazing shooter and passer who became not only an NBA star, but a Hall of Fame winner. He is listed as one of the top 50 players of all time. Many would easily consider him in the top 10. What makes Larry so extraordinary to me is that he was not that great of an athlete. He was tall, about 6’9’’, but he wasn’t a great jumper. He wasn’t fast or exceptionally strong either. But what gave Larry the edge over everyone else was that he was a fierce competitor, and he just outworked everyone. When Larry was asked the secret to his success, his answer stunned the interviewer. Larry’s response was, “The off-season. While all the other guys are playing golf or laying on beaches, I’m on the court working on my game.”
Larry took his very normal ability and worked hard to develop it. He would shoot hundreds of shots every day from various angles. He would do passing drills and dribbling drills to work on his ball handling. He knew he couldn’t out-jump the high leapers in the NBA, so he worked on how to get positioned so he could block them out and have the inside track. Larry is a classic example of a two-bag guy who turned it into four or more. His passion for the game more than made up for his ability. Most of us are probably two-bag people as well. We’re not exceptionally smart, gifted, or extraordinarily blessed. Most of us probably consider ourselves average, or just a notch above in a few things. The sad part of it is that a lot of us don’t really expect much of ourselves. We serve, we lead, we do a few things here or there in the church or in the community for God, but we don’t believe we have that much to offer.
But what if we did? What if we believed that passion and hard work, coupled with the blessing of God’s Holy Spirit could do wonderful and amazing things? What if we became greeters who really smiled at guests and tried to learn and remember their names? What if we became teachers who took time to pray individually for each of our students and called them on the weeks we do to ask if there was any special need they’d like to share? What if we didn’t just fill our roles for God, but prayed for His leading, looked for new and creative ways to do them, and then carried them out with passion and enthusiasm? What if we decided to be a Larry Bird for God? Just ordinary, average people who give everything we have to what God has given us to do. We might not make the Hall of Fame, but we will probably make a whole lot more of a difference than we thought we could make. And one day, when our Master returns, we might hear the sweetest sound ever. A hearty, “Well done!” and the resounding applause of Heaven. That’s God’s Word for you today.