I love watching people who are really skilled at what they do.
Lots
of skills – dancers, carpenters, glass blowers, pianists, sculptors, just to name a few.
I also love to watch people who are good at sports.
Apparently, so does Paul George – at least if that person is Larry Bird shooting a basketball.
So do the rest of the Indiana Pacers, according to this article.
SLAM: I believe you had talked about seeing Larry shoot in the gym.
PG: He picked a ball up that had rolled over. He rolled up his sleeves and made about 15 in a row and just walked out like nothing just happened. It was the craziest thing I’ve seen.
SLAM: How did you and the rest of the team react?
PG: We were speechless. We didn’t know whether to keep shooting or just to end practice. It was sweet, man.
There is something glorious about a person taking his or gifts and perfecting
them. Watching those people moves us.
God gave us this glory – as his image bearers. Using our gifts was supposed to stir us to worship the God who created them and gave us such a privilege.
Unfortunately, we twist this glory in at least two ways.
First, when we perform, we steal this glory – or try to – for ourselves. Rather than moving people to worship God as they watch us play or perform, we want them to worship us.
Secondly, when we watch others perform, we misplace the worship and focus on the creature rather than the creator.
We cheat or steal glory from God. Paul reminds us in Romans 1:21 that this refusal to “honor him as God or give thanks” is at the core of the corruption from the Fall.
In handling this glory either way, we are left empty rather than fulfilled.
People make lousy gods, and have you ever noticed this reality – people who think they want to be worshipped end up trying to get away from it? It seems that those who are worshipped and adored as the greater (athlete, musician, artist,etc) from the lesser (adoring fans) eventually find it suffocating rather than life-giving, while the lesser (child, student, athlete, creature) never tires of the adoration of the greater (parent, teacher, coach or creator).
The amazing reality of the Gospel is that God takes us glory cheaters or stealers, forgives us, redeems us, gives us new hearts that find their greatest joy in the supreme object of worship – God – and makes us recipients of his life-giving affirmation, promising we are “heirs of glory.” (Romans 8:17)
The next time you are in whatever realm of expertise you operate within or are watching someone in theirs, I hope you will remember and move toward the gracious purpose God had in giving us all those gifts and the opportunity to express them.
Someone is watching – just like Paul George.
