So I’m not a huge soccer (or Football) fan, but I have caught a few highlights, and a few youtube clips. There’s one thing that is apparent in World Cup Soccer – acting is a definite benefit. If you’re not familiar with this practice it’s called “diving.” This happens when one player fakes, or exaggerates and injury caused (or supposedly caused) by another player. I have seen a few funny clips come up on facebook in the past few weeks about this. So it got me thinking about my life, trouble I’ve experienced, and how God wants us to react when we want to “dive.”
With both sports and life there are bad, unfair, and unplanned things that happen. Sometimes we play a part in the conflict, sometimes we are completely innocent. How we respond in those moments matters a great deal. We can respond in one of at least three ways when we feel wronged. We can take matters into our own hands, call attention to the situation (like diving in soccer), or address it maturely and allow God to bring justice and control the outcome.
We can all agree that the first option is wrong and ends in a greater mess. The second choice is to start talking, take a dive, cry foul, and make sure that others are very aware of how we feel wronged. This, however, doesn’t lead to peace and ultimately does not give us the sense of justice we long for. The final option is, I believe, the spiritually mature way to respond when we’ve been wronged. Psalm 37 speaks about this,
5 Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you. 6 He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.
I had a mentor explain this to me in hockey terms. If another player is slashing you then you can slash back, take a dive to get the ref’s attention, or skate away. Skating away is always best because usually people around you see what’s going on anyway. In doing that we remain people of Christ like character. There is a place for spiritually mature resolution and expression of the wrong, but only after we skate away. So the next time you are wronged, rather than having the instant satisfaction of taking a dive, consider how you will respond. God sees your situation, and if you commit your way to Him, He will help you, bring justice, and will make your innocence shine as plainly as the noonday sun.
