“Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.” — Joel 2:13

>> Sign up here for Sports Spectrum devotionals sent right to your email inbox <<

Coaches have a challenging job. A basketball coach is required to correct players when they are sloppy with the basketball and turn it over too much or don’t show up for practices or are late for meetings. The NBA tries to set up guidelines to help players and coaches have a good understanding of what is expected, avoid misunderstandings, and enhance good working relationships between players and staff.

But sometimes team harmony is threatened when players refuse to be corrected. This seemed to happen recently when Draymond Green apparently wouldn’t listen to head coach Steve Kerr and went to the locker room instead of being willing to look at his faults. They worked out their differences later, but the incident was a distraction for the team.

It’s nothing new — people for centuries have tended to overlook their own faults. But in the Bible, when John the Baptist, Jesus or the apostles preached, they cut through our silly excuses for wrongdoing and spoke about us as we really are on the inside. They spoke with courage to their generation and told everyone to stop pretending and get real. As John spoke boldly to the rich, poor and people from every background, he challenged us to turn away from our selfish, sinful ways and follow Christ by the way we think, talk and live daily. If we walk in the footsteps of Jesus, we will change the direction of our lives away from self and toward God.

When we realize how wrong we are, we can be truly sorry for what we’ve done and start to actually do better with God’s help. John called us to repentance in Matthew 3:1-2: “In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.'” In other words, we don’t have time to waste. We should get right with God now. Since God is compassionate, He’s always reaching out to us and urging us to return to Him.

In the Old Testament, we read about how the Ninevites were evil and violent, but God still wanted to save them from destruction. Jonah was sent to warn them to change their ways quickly, and they felt genuine sorrow over their sin and started a new kind of life immediately. After Jonah told them they had 40 days to avoid disaster, they took the message seriously and repented of their wicked ways. God saw the king of Nineveh and all of the people mourning over their sin and striving to do better, so He decided not to bring the planned punishment after all. “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened” (Jonah 3:10).

If we’re honest about our sinfulness and aim to do better by God’s grace, the Lord will work with us. A humble heart will bring us close to God, but when we deny our sinfulness, we put distance between ourselves and God. When we have a true change of heart, we’ll grow in Christlikeness as we ask God to search our hearts, show us where we’re out of line, and put us on a better path.

— Bill Kent, Pastor of Memorial Baptist Church, Sylvania, Georgia

>> Do you know Christ personally? Learn how you can commit your life to Him <<

>> Subscribe to Sports Spectrum Magazine for more devotionals and stories where sports and faith connect <<

>> Dive more into God’s Word with Sports Spectrum through the YouVersion Bible App <<

If you would like to submit a devotional, please email all submissions to
devotionals@sportsspectrum.com