Enlightening

Saturday mornings are usually very relaxed around my house. I spend time with my wife, eat some good food, and get the fun work around the house done. But the past few Saturdays have not been like that.

I have spent the past several weeks coaching 5th-6th grade boys' basketball in our church league. Does it sound like a lot of fun? Not to everyone. But for me, it has been a complete blast. I never really realized how much I would actually enjoy teaching kids the game (and the winning is not all that bad either).

The way that our church conducts the league is in a very spiritual manner. We have a mid-practice devotion led by the coaches and have someone give a half-time devotion at every game. I have been very privileged to lead a couple of these devotions and this Saturday, I will be doing the same.

Now, you have to know, I have watched just about every basketball movie that has ever been made (including the documentaries). I love everything about the game. But, for some reason, when I think of coaching, the only movie that consistently springs to my mind is "Coach Carter". Samuel L. Jackson definitely plays the hard-nosed basketball coach roll quite well. At the beginning of his first practice, coach Carter asks the players what their biggest fear is. It takes almost half of the movie before a player answers that question. He stands up from his desk on the gym floor, (you'll just have to see the movie), and says this quote.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us...there's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do...it's not just in some of us; it's in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." - Marianne Williamson

That was a very long way to introduce what I will be sharing in the devotion at half-time of one of the games. I really like the way that the quote is worded. But honestly, I think Jesus said it better in Matthew 5 when he pointed out: 

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden." - Jesus

When Jesus said this, he was preaching one of the most famous sermons in the entire Bible: The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus and Marianne Williamson both agreed that we should be light to the world around us. However, they had vastly different reasons for doing so.

Marianne Williamson was a peace activist. She actually spent her life trying to liberate others. Shining as a light was part of her freedom philosophy because by being who she was, she actually did free others.

On the other hand, Jesus was not commanding his followers to shine for the sake of shining or to liberate others. Jesus told us to shine because in doing so, we point others to the Liberator. The difference is in who you know. Marianne's followers could have experienced freedom. But they would never be truly free because they did not actually know the one who made them free. Marianne's followers knew the activist, Jesus' followers knew the One who created the activist and freedom in the first place. 

Suffice it to say, we were all meant to shine like children do. You were not created to hide your light under a basket. You were created to illuminate the darkness of the world around you. You were created to show Christ's love through your actions and your overall conduct. So live as a child of light, and please the Lord rather than men. Until next time, stay classy.

-Andrew