Champions maximize their contribution …

A common denominator among champion athletes is they always want the ball.

On any football team, you’ll always hear great receivers nagging the coach and quarterback to give them the ball.

Great pitchers want out of the bull pen to pitch all nine innings.

Great basketball players want to take the shot.

Champions want the ball! They want to make the play that scores the win.

But many who consider themselves champions for Christ often take the ball for a moment, and then pass it for others to finish. But too often the ball is dropped when there’s no one else to receive the hand-off.

One way we miss championing an opportunity for Christ is by passing the ball to the person who actually needs our help. We do this by saying, “Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.”

What’s wrong with that?

There’s nothing “wrong” with it, but it usually winds up resulting in a dropped ball. That’s because the average person who really needs help, and whose needs are known, isn’t going to outline exact steps they need someone to take.

For example, a family was out of food and their electricity was turned off. A couple church leaders visited them on behalf of a church, listening politely to their story. The husband and wife explained how a series of negative events created their current circumstances, and how they didn’t have any means to feed their children or pay to turn their utilities back on. They didn’t have any support from family or friends, and they were desperate.

At the end of their time together, the church leaders spent a few moments praying with them and then, before walking out the door, said, “Let us know if there’s anything we can do for you.”

I later asked the couple why they didn’t tell the men they specifically needed help with groceries and utilities. Their answer was profound, and profoundly simple: telling their story WAS telling the men what they needed! It wasn’t necessary to be any more clear. The couple felt the response of the men was a demonstration of their not wanting to do more than they had just done.

When we know what the needs are and still don’t take action, we cause others to believe we don’t want to help. When someone has just shared their needs, and the response is “Let me know if I can do anything for you,” about the only thing a person could say to that would be, “Well, what do you want to do?” The needs are known, only you know what you’re capable and willing to offer, so the ball is in your court.

To say, “Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you” is to pass the ball to the one who needs help instead of running with it. That’s not responding like a champion. A champion wants the ball!

The best way to meet a need is to take the ball and run with it. We do that by:

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  • Identifying everything you possibly can do to help. Not simply identify where the next person is you can make a hand-off to, but how far can you run with this yourself.

• • Enthusiastically ask for the chance to take the ball as far as you can with the resources God has blessed you with to share. Offer what you’re willing to do, and are capable of.

• • If you’ve run as far and hard as you can, and the need isn’t yet fulfilled, help find the next able receiver.

• • Don’t quit until you help the person across the goal line.

Not every champion can carry the ball all the way on his own. Sometimes, the ball must be passed. A champion knows when to pass the ball to make a win happen. But a real champion can’t get the ball pried from his hands until he’s run as far as he can!

Are you running as a champion for Christ? Are you throwing yourself entirely into helping others across the goal line? Or do you prefer watching the real action from the bench?

Scotty