During the 2008 NFL season, former all-time great Mike Singletary took over as interim head coach for the San Francisco 49ers. He made quite a debut, sending his star tight end to the locker room with 10 minutes left in the game. In the post game press conference, Singletary explained his actions  and declared a zero tolerance policy for players who made things about them instead of the team. “Cannot play with them. Cannot win with them. Cannot coach with them. Can’t do it.”

I was reading my Bible a little while back, and I landed in Judges. The story of Samson in Judges 16 is a great illustration that just like Mike Singletary, God can’t win with you if you have your focus wrong. If you share your heart and mind with worldly things it will bring only destruction, no matter how much talent and potential you’ve been blessed with.  God empowered Samson with a ridiculous gift. And when Samson, a mighty warrior and a great talent, let his flesh get the better of him, it was off with his hair and out with his eyes. He was sent to the locker room.

I’m not suggesting that God sends us to the showers every time we step out of line. I am suggesting that if our motives aren’t pure, and if our focus is not aimed in the right direction, that He simply can’t use us for His glory. In his press conference, Coach Singletary actually said he could deal with players who made mistakes but had their heart in the right place, but that he had no use for players who had their eyes on the wrong prize. 

“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.” – Romans 8:5-8

Thanks to Dexter for sharing that scripture with me.

I usually worry about not using my talents for the glory of God, thinking that an inability to make a positive impact is the worst case scenario. But if I allow myself to be guided by the world, to be about myself instead of the team, I can actually create negative consequences for myself and those around me, while rendering myself useless to God. It’s not whether I can make an impact. That is going to happen. It’s the trajectory of the impact that is the real issue.  Am I going to lean forward or fall back? The answer will be in whether I can die to the self.

You are probably aware of how Sampson’s story ends. He prayed that God would remember him and strengthen him, just once, so that he might avenge the Philistines for his two eyes being gouged out. God grants his wish, puts him back on the field, and he pulls two pillars together and collapses the temple. In Judges 16:30 it says, Thus he killed many more as he died than while he lived.”

Another reminder for me that what I can accomplish if I die to self and commit to God will always, ALWAYS , be far greater than anything I can achieve by my own devices. Knowing that makes it hard to explain why it’s so hard to do it.