Living Life by Design

“You can not be serious!” – John McEnroeIn the late 1970’s, early 1980’s I played numerous local tennis tournaments. San Bernardino, California was a hot spot for great tennis. In one tournament I was playing a very good tennis player, Mike Duran. I had defeated him in a previous tournament in straight sets. I respected Mike greatly and was proud to call him my friend.

In our match, I had won the first set and was up a break of serve in the second. I was playing very confidently. All of a sudden Mike began throwing his racquet in anger and screeching 4-letter obscenities. I had NEVER heard Mike raise his voice on court, let alone swear. He yelled at shots I made saying, “lucky” or he would cover his eyes and hit a shadow stroke. His actions threw my game off enough for him to come back and win the second set. In the third set he became even more vulgar and boisterous. He won the match.

As we shook hands at the net, he laughed and said getting into my head was the only way he had a chance of beating me. Everything he did was within the rules but I felt devastated by how he disrespected me just to win. At that moment I had a choice. I could have simply punched Mike and called it a day (which was truly what I wanted to do) or I could have been, at that moment, the example of Christ.

Jesus Christ set the supreme example of love by giving up his life for us. The Apostle Paul said, ‘Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God’ (Ephesians 5:1–2). Christ became like us so that we could become like him.

Paul wrote about how the Ephesians came ‘to know Christ’ (4:20), and how knowing him they were taught to ‘be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness’ (vv.23–24).

Shaking hands at the net, what choice would you have made?