Just Do It

Some years ago, when Michael Jordan was playing for the Chicago Bulls, he did a commercial for a company that makes athletic equipment (most notably shoes) that showed him practicing free throws. He did a voice-over in which he asked if we ever wondered what it would be like if he didn’t play the way he did. To be honest, I don’t think too many of us really wondered that. He was phenomenal, after all; he made playing basketball look easy, as if it were something he was born to do. At the end of the commercial, there was a close up of him saying, “I do.” And then it went back to showing him practicing free throws.
Many people now know that Jordan was once cut from his high school basketball team. Looking at the way he played in the NBA, that seems incredible. The commercial seems to give a look inside the man. He had a reputation, even before the commercial, of being the first of the Bulls to show up for practice, and the last one to leave. Many other players didn’t feel that they needed to practice any more that whatever Coach Phil Jackson required. Some people wondered why a phenomenal player like Jordan felt that he had to practice so much. Perhaps they simply were looking at the situation from the wrong angle; perhaps Jordan was a phenomenal player precisely because he practiced so much. Perhaps even, at the height of his career, he thought back to his high school days, and didn’t want to be considered ‘not good enough’ ever again.
I mentioned the other day that Apostle Paul strove to be more than he was, closer to God, and more able to do the things that God would have him to do. The big difference between Paul’s striving and Jordan’s practicing may very well have been the fact that Paul didn’t worry about being considered not good enough; he knew he wasn’t good enough. It was only by grace that he was even allowed to attain salvation, much less become a leader in the church. Paul knew that, as long as he strived, then grace would pick up where he left off. He didn’t take the attitude that, “I can never be good enough, so I just won’t try, and God’s grace will be sufficient.” He knew that just wasn’t going to do. I’m not sure if Paul knew the parable of the talents; I would assume that one of the other apostles would have told him, but there is no mention of it in any of Paul’s writings. Jesus taught that there were three men whose master was going on a far journey, and the master gave each of them some silver to deal with while he was away (a talent was a measure of silver before it ever became an ability). He gave one man five talents, and he gave one two talents, and he gave one only one talent. When the master returned, the first servant had gained five more talents, the second two more, and the third just had the one. He didn’t lose what the master had given him; he just didn’t do anything with it. The master called him wicked and slothful and had him delivered into outer darkness. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think that’s a good thing. Now the master didn’t expect him to do as much with the one as the other man did with the five, or even as much as the other servant did with the two, but he did expect him to do something with it. Again, maybe it’s just me, but I wonder if the master might not have been more merciful if the third servant had invested the talent of silver and lost it entirely because at least it would have shown that he had chosen to do something. I know that most bosses would get upset if you invested their money foolishly, but this master was clearly irate at the idea that this servant had simply chosen to do nothing.
In any case, we need to be about our Father’s business. He didn’t give us this glorious gospel to hide it under a bushel, or to just do what we want to do. It’s not God’s will that any should perish, and yet, so often, we seem unwilling to let people around us know that they don’t need to perish; eternal life is within their reach. It’s so simple, and yet, so many times we sit on the seat of do-nothing. I would encourage you to do something, even if it’s wrong.