No Superstars Here

Perhaps you were as excited as I was when the Detroit Lions snagged up Ndamukong Suh, the defensive tackle from the University of Nebraska, with their second pick in the 2010 draft. Suh, the first team All-American and Heisman trophy finalist, seemed like a surefire answer to the motor city’s pigskin woes (at least part of the answer) and was already being put on a pedestal before he even stepped foot on Ford Field. Fortunately, Suh did not disappoint. He led the beleaguered team with 10 sacks, and was the first Lion’s rookie since a guy named Barry Sanders to be selected as a starter for the Pro Bowl. Not bad Suh!

Perhaps you were also as dismayed as I was to hear what “Ducky” – the nickname Suh’s teammates have bestowed on him – had to say when he was recently interviewed about the role he will play in the Lion’s upcoming season: “I am excited about this season. I know we are really going to do great because we have all been practicing really hard. There are guys on this team that can afford to go in 100% on every tackle, and I am not one of them. I mean let’s be honest, I am getting paid triple even quadruple what some of my teammates are getting. If I get hurt the team stands to lose a lot, so I am going to play it safe and take care of the plays that don’t look like they will get me in trouble.”

Doesn’t that sound a bit odd? Well it should, since Suh never said anything like that. Okay, I have a confession to make. I made it up. I wanted to show you how ridiculous it would be for any player – even a superstar – to say that their primary concern is protecting themselves when it comes time to put on the pads and get in the game. If anything like that ever came out of Suh’s mouth you can imagine how upset and disappointed his coach and the rest of his teammates would be, and rightfully so. No one player is more important than the main mission of the team, which as we all know is to win.

Have you ever noticed the parallels between being a Christ follower and being an athlete? Both require qualities like discipline, focus, teamwork, and probably most importantly sacrifice. All athletes are called on to sacrifice, and all Christians are called on to sacrifice.

I recently started reading a book by a pastor named David Platt, and the book is called Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. The reason that Platt wrote the book was to show how many Christians have fallen into the trap of believing that the American Dream and God’s Dream are one and the same. That is to say, God’s plan for His people is that they prosper, become wealthy, buy increasingly bigger homes, faster cars, nicer clothes, and are able to go out for ice cream every night at Coldstone to boot (please do not be offended if you are a Coldstone fanatic, I love them too!). Of course they still support a missionary, but it is with the few dollars they have left over after they have indulged themselves to the full extent that they are capable of. Is this really God’s dream? God does want us to live a life full of His blessings, but won’t it be hard for him to bless us if we are always looking for the next opportunity to bless ourselves. I will be the first to admit that this is something that I struggle with.

Part of being on “Christ’s Team” is being able to look past our own desires to the needs of the team. We would not stand to hear something come out of an athlete’s mouth like the quote that I made up, but at the same time many of us in the church seem to be living out that philosophy. Platt says, “…we have unnecessarily, and unbiblically) drawn a line of distinction, assigning the obligations of Christianity to a few while keep the privileges of Christianity for us all.” If Suh decided that he was too important to risk injuring himself in difficult plays, then I am sure the coaching staff would also decide it was too risky paying him millions of dollars when all they were likely to see was the opposing teams running back whizz past him. You don’t want the obligations? Then you don’t get the privileges either. It is important that we are always asking ourselves, and God, am I doing what I need to do to help the team? Because if we aren’t, then we shouldn’t expect to get that front page picture of us lifting the trophy at the end of the season.