Good enough for God?

My church runs an Upward basketball league for kids. I happen to play (sometimes well, sometimes not as well) on the church’s adult basketball team. In exchange for the church paying the entry fee for the adult team, said adults will referee some Upward games.

I was slated to ref the 4:30 and 5:30 games this past Saturday. Knowing this in advance, I had also signed up to do two halftime devotions for the crowd, which is a regular feature of the Upward ministry. I thought I was going to do them at halftime of the 3:30 game and the 4:30 game, so I was taking care of some yardwork until it was almost time to leave. Imagine my surprise to find a voicemail on my phone from around 3 o’clock, wondering where I was since I had actually signed up for devotions for the 2:30 game and the 3:30 game.

Off to a great start, I hopped in my car and showed up in time to apologize to those in charge and to do the devotion for the 3:30 game. I then refereed two games and ended up doing two more devotions. Turns out we normally don’t do them for the later games because the crowds are smaller, but I was already there (and I’d screwed up earlier), so why not?

“Why not?” ended up being the starting point for my devotion. I talked about the reasons I could come up with to not referee the games, and I came up with three: (1) I’m too busy; (2) I have time but just don’t want to do it; and (3) I’m not good enough to do it.

The last excuse became the theme of my devotion: I’m not good enough. I’ve never had any training on how to be a referee. I do it only once a year. Yeah, I play basketball and know most of the rules, but I’m not going to be anywhere close to perfect. So I’m not good enough, and I don’t want to fail. I don’t want to hear comments from fans, coaches, or players about the mistakes I’m making. Those comments will just remind me that I’m not good enough.

But despite all of that, I did it. I refereed two games, and while my performance was far from perfect, the two games (one of which went into triple overtime) went off without a hitch. No screaming coaches or fans, and even a few compliments on my devotions.

Why did I do it? Well, the obvious reason is that it was the price of admission for playing on the adult team. But there is more to it – I did it because Upward basketball is a ministry; it’s another way to reach people and share some of God’s love with them. The ministry can’t run without volunteers. I wasn’t doing anything special. I was just being obedient and answering when God asked me to do something.

And you know what? I was good enough. I was good enough to officiate two rec-league basketball games involving 10- and 11-year-olds. That’s not something to shout from my front porch (I’m not climbing up on any rooftops), but it leads to what I told people on Saturday:

Many people hesitate to accept Jesus Christ because they feel like they’re not good enough. “You just don’t know what I’ve done,” they’ll say in what might be one of many excuses. Yeah, I don’t know what you’ve done … but God does. And he loves you anyway. He’s just waiting for you to love him back.

Is he happy with everything you’ve done? Of course not – but join the club. None of us who are walking into church on Sunday morning have spotless records, either. If we’re doing it right, though, we’re slowly getting better … better at loving God and loving our neighbors. We’ll still make mistakes, and we’ll hear about them (just like a referee hears about his mistakes … or gets to watch well-made YouTube videos about them), but we keep going.

I don’t how smart you are, or whether people like you, but I can say without question that you’re good enough for God’s love.[1] That’s one less excuse you have for not returning the favor.

[1] Even if you happen to be part of the Duke men’s basketball program.