Gò0dNews for Everyone
Scoring For the Wrong Team
M
by Kristen West
y teammates were bewildered. My coach was
vulnerable to our old ways or one hot-button decision away
dismayed. The crowd was confused. My eighth-
from making a lay-up for our former team. The truth is, we
grade basketball team was pitted against a rival
all stumble in many things (James 3:2), are prone to sin, and
team on that very cold night in 1982. It was one of those
tend to get easily derailed in our faith journey. So, what do
small-town, everyone-gets-hot-under-the-collar kinds of
we do if we find we just scored for our old team? Get back in
games. The kind where, when you’re fourteen years old, it
the game!
feels like a life-or-death match. At one point in the game, I had stolen the ball from the opposing team’s point guard and dribbled to the basket as fast as I could. Most of the other players were behind me. The court ahead was clear. I went in for a lay-up and scored! An easy two points! I was thrilled… until I noticed my team wasn’t cheering and the other team was laughing. That was the mortifying moment when I realized I had just scored for the opposite team! I had succumbed to a moment of familiarity. You see, just one year before this embarrassing flub, I had been a player on the other team! Between my seventh and eighthgrade years, my family had moved. As a result, I changed
1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He [God] is
schools. This game was the first time I had been on the court
faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us
with my new team, facing my old team. For just a moment,
from all unrighteousness.”
I had a lapse in judgment and thought I was, once again, playing for my old team. Have you ever done that? Perhaps not in basketball,
God knows our weaknesses and is forever faithful and kind to help get us on our feet, brush us off, give us some great coaching encouragement, and send us back on the
but your Christian walk? In the spiritual scope of things,
court! And, the wonderful reality is that the longer you play
there are only two teams—God’s team and “the opposing”
for God’s team, the less likely you’ll be inclined to score for
team. According to Romans 3:23, we have all been a part of
your former team. It proved true for me in basketball, as
that opposing team at one point or another. As a result, we
well. I went on to play with the same girls from my eighth-
became familiar with it—the rhythms of a self-centered life;
grade ball team for the next five years. I didn’t make the
the habits of selfishness; the team support of the world and
mistake of scoring for my old team again.
all its trappings.
Lesson learned.
ultimately, the best decision we’ll ever make for ourselves and our neighbor; however, that doesn’t mean we’re not
20 // June 2022
About The Author
Joining God’s team is essential for eternal life and, Kristen West works at Rock Bridge Community Church with a heart for staff leadership, development, and care. She is a communicator with a passion to inspire, encourage, and challenge others in their daily walk with Christ. She writes and publishes weekly content on her blog at kristen-west.com.
