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Touchdown Celebration
Are you for touchdown celebrations or against them? I could go either way myself, but I find it's a fascinating conversation to have.
Joshua 1:9
Are you for touchdown celebrations or against them? I could go either way myself, but I find it’s a fascinating conversation to have because some people love them and some people absolutely hate them.
Just for some background, they used to be penalized in the NFL. Up until 2017, they released those penalties, now, every time someone scores a touchdown, it’s like a big spectacle, a big celebration, and you never know what they’re going to do. And I think the reason people hate them is because they seem to be an over expression of pride. And on the other hand, when you score, when you’re triumphant, it seems fitting to have some sort of celebration. So at what point does a confidence celebration go too far into pride?
So what we’re talking about is the difference between confidence and pride. And there are two different things there. You can tell because they have two different opposites. The opposite of pride is humility, and the opposite of confidence would be fear. This is an important distinction to make because Scripture warns us about being too prideful. And then in some verses it tells us to be strong, courageous, and without fear. One of my favorite Bible passages, for example, is Joshua one verse nine, where it says,
Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
So we’re instructed to be confident. We’re instructed to be courageous and without fear. As Christians, God doesn’t want us to live our lives in fear of everything we undertake. We can do it with the knowledge that he is with us. Big things, small things, even our worst enemies. We don’t have to be afraid of them because God doesn’t want us to live in fear. But we have to be careful here because we can be too prideful. When you’re good at something. It can go to your head. And I think there’s two things to look out for, your motives and where you’re placing the credit. When we’re motivated just to serve ourselves and not use our abilities to help others, then that bleeds into pride really quickly. If we’re doing the things just to get the praise of other people. And so that people recognize you as the best, then that’s prideful. And the other one is we lose sight completely of where to properly place the credit.
Like I said, it’s awesome to be gifted at something. But why do we say it like that? Gifted? Because the proper understanding is that God has enabled you to do the things that you’re able to do. He’s placed you in this life and given you your body, your mind and soul and your members. And he preserves you. And so the proper credit for all the things that you’re able to do is to give it to God. And like Joshua one nine says, it gives us the source of our strength. The Lord your God is with you wherever you go. He is the one fighting for you. It’s his ability that your confidence is in and not your own.
How awesome is that? That Jesus Christ, the Lord of the universe, is fighting for you. He’s the true, humble servant of all. He, in perfect humility became a man, walked among us, courageously took on the sins of all mankind, and died on the cross for your sins and my sins. And then he triumphantly picks up his life again, and raises to the right hand of the father, and he gives this victory to us. He’s conquered the sins of pride that we have. He has totally conquered them and then given us that victory. And this is the one who is fighting for you.
So you have absolutely nothing to fear. We can live our lives courageously, confident in Christ without fear. Praise be to God for that.
