Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will received the inheritance as your reward.
Colossians 3:23-24
There he was. Sprawled out on the ground, flat on his face. Some of his teammates gave him some friendly teasing. “Man Tony. The only thing you hit was the ground.” “He faked you out of your jock strap.” Even the head coach, Coach Winfield, kidded him, laughingly saying that he should start wearing his glasses out on the practice field so he could see the ball carrier better. Rob had been running up the field with the ball, and Tony was closing in on him to make the tackle, and just when he thought he had him, well there he was on the ground with his face in the dirt.
Tony loved, loved, loved football. He just wasn’t very good at it. He worked hard to get better, and he did get better, but not good enough to be able to play in any of the games. Heck, he rarely even got to play in the B-Squad games. Coach Monroe was one of the assistant coaches, and Youth Pastor at his church, the 42nd Avenue Baptist Church. He always told Tony how much he appreciated Tony’s hard work, and attitude. The head coach had told Tony that even though he rarely got the opportunity to play, he was a valued member of the team. His teammates appreciated him too, always offering a lot of encouragement to him.
When he first joined the team, he got frustrated over his lack of playing time, and it showed sometimes with his attitude. Coach Monroe though, talked with him about it. He reminded Tony that as Christians, everything we do should be for the glory of God. We give God our best, not for what we can get out of it, but to honor God. He explained to Tony, that he should always strive to be the best player that he can be, not just to get a chance to play, but to honor God. When you do this, God blesses you with his best.
This had changed Tony’s whole outlook. Yeah, he still wanted a chance to play in the games, and he still worked hard to be the best player that he could be, but now his focus was on giving the best he could for God’s glory, and now even though he still wasn’t playing in the games, he felt a certain satisfaction that he was giving his best to God.
Thought: Do we give our best in all that we do for God’s glory? What is our primary motivating factor in the things we do?