People of sport are unique in society because their best days and their worst days are out in the public for everyone to see. Their flesh, its best parts and its worst parts, are the easiest parts of them to see. How often have you watched an important contest on television and just as an official makes a call that goes against the coach, the camera zooms right in on his face and all the lip-readers in the nation know he wasn’t blessing the official. His flesh is now on display for a national or even international television audience.
If I took offense to every curse word and profanity that I’ve heard in my years on the field of competition, I’d be forever upset. As it is, I’ve had to learn to see past such behavior and to pursue the hearts of our coaches and athletes without respect to their failings. Having a sober view of my own personal weaknesses has also tempered my reactions to others’ bent to outbursts of anger or other foolish actions.
It requires more insight and more faith to see their hearts and to know them below the surface. Everyone has their personal weaknesses, their particular flaws of character, but we must be careful to not have these become the defining characteristics of those with whom we do ministry. We must look beyond that flaw and see the heart that the Lord so deeply loves.
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