Am I playing offense?
Most team sports today require every player to play both defense and offense. Examples include basketball, ice hockey and international football (aka soccer). While most players don’t excel in both roles, some do and have been dubbed two-way players. For example, Michael Jordan of basketball fame has won both the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award and the NBA Most Valuable Player Award. American and Canadian football are exceptions, since players are divided between offensive and defensive squads, though defensive players have on occasion intercepted passes and scored touchdowns!
In any event, while defensive play is important, effective offensive play is a prerequisite to winning games. Within this context, one might view the Christian church as the team Jesus has fielded. The goal: to expand His kingdom by reaching others with the Good News that He has paid the price so they can be reconciled to God. As in basketball, every follower of Jesus has both a defensive and an offensive mandate. And while not all believers are equally strong in their capabilities and motivations, Jesus didn’t divide us into offensive squads (say evangelists) and defensive squads (everybody else!).
Playing defense on Jesus’ team encompasses among other things responding in a Christ-like manner to the many challenges that are a regular feature of everyday life. On occasion, it may entail defending the Christian worldview against attacks by others hostile to the message or the messenger (“apologetics”). Playing offense on the other hand includes, most importantly, sharing the Good News of Jesus. In some cases, it may entail taking the battle to those defending another worldview with the goal of persuading them to reconsider (“polemics”).
Many believers aren’t experiencing fulfillment in their professional and personal life because they aren’t playing offense.
While having an effective defensive game helps one experience life to the full, so too does playing offense. Indeed, many believers aren’t experiencing fulfillment in their professional and personal life because they aren’t playing offense. Aside from the very real benefit of individual fulfillment, the church is hindered from accomplishing its mission unless every believer carries out her or his offensive assignment.
In my experience, however, many Christians don’t have any real offensive game. Indeed, for many, the most important aspect of their faith is that it helps them cope with their temporary assignment (day-to-day life) until they die and go to be with Jesus. And yet, as recorded in the following scripture, Jesus has commanded every believer to go on offense while at the same time assuring us that He will always be with us. We’re never alone!
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20 NLT)
So here’s a wake-up call for every believer including leaders and aspiring leaders. Do I want my team to win? If so, am I doing my part by playing offense? Better still, do I want to be a two-way player (good at both defense and offense) and will I take action today?
Photo by Lars Bo Nielsen on Unsplash
