Show Off This Instant!

I'm a bit of a showoff.

This first became evident when I played on the volleyball and basketball teams in high school. Afternoon practices in the gym were always a boring, monotonous pain to get through … until members of the guys basketball team started trickling in, waiting for our practice to end so theirs could begin.

They would linger around the edge of the court, stretching or just watching us. These guys lived up to their “good looking jock” reputations well. Of course I had a crush on one or two of them, if not the entire starting lineup.

They would arrive in the gym and when they did, I miraculously became a better player. Though it was at the end of a long two hours, my skills immediately sharpened. My form somehow improved. I sprinted faster. I cheered for my teammates louder. I scored points. Suddenly, I was a pro.

It fascinates me that the Bible was not written by pros, or even people trying to show off. It was written people who actually didn’t even know they were writing the Bible. These guys only intended their stuff to be read by a select audience. They weren’t trying to impress the whole world. They weren’t trying to win generations of different personalities and nationalities to the Gospel. They were just writing the facts, as they witnessed them, to a select audience. They were, essentially, “practicing in an empty gym.”

If the Bible included the Book of Jodi, and if I knew my writings would later be added to a book deemed God’s Holy Word, you can be sure I’d try to show off a bit. Unlike these writers, I’d have tried to prove my expertise, my smarts. I’d have passed my stuff through a slew of editors.

But instead, we get the Bible — God’s living Word, man-written but God-breathed. He chose mere mortals to reach each and every one of us in just the way we need to be reached. Matthew, Luke, Paul and the rest … they didn't write to show off … and yet God calls their efforts “perfect.” Today He is using their humble records to change the world.

Have you ever tried to do something harder because you wanted to impress whoever was watching? What if God is using you just as you are? What if He is making your practice … perfect?

“I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.” Colossians 4:18

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12