Los
Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton hadn't won a game in eight weeks. A critical
press was suggesting that he be dropped from the starting lineup. The future
looked bleak, and Sutton felt terrible. Then, before a game, Dodgers manager
Walter Alston tapped him on the shoulder. "I'd like to speak with you,
Don," he said. Sutton prepared himself for the worst.
"Don,"
said Alston, "I know how the past couple of months have been for you.
Everyone's wondering whether we can make it to the play-offs . . . You know
there's a lot of pressure . . . I've had to make a decision." Sutton had
visions of being taken off the mound. Then Alston continued. "If the
Dodgers are going to win this year," he said, looking Sutton in the eye,
"they're going to win with Don Sutton pitching. Come what may, you're
staying in the starting job. That's all I wanted to say."
Sutton's
losing streak lasted two more weeks, but because of his manager's encouragement
he felt different about it. Something in him was turning around. He found
himself pitching the best ball of his career. In the National League pennant
drive, he won 13 games out of 14.
There are all kinds of theories about how to motivate people.
We can do it through guilt, through fear, through shame. But these were not Jesus'
methods. Jesus motivated through positive messages of hope and encouragement.
Jesus always looked for the good, and never focused on the bad: He saw us in
the future and knew we looked much better than we do right now!*
Don Sutton went on to set a record for team wins, be a MLB Hall
of Famer, a Broadcast Journalist, and had his number retired by the Dodger; the
highest form of honor a team can give a player. His coach, Alston, saw him in
the future and knew he looked much better than he did at a particular moment in
his life.
How do you see yourself and others? Do you look for the
positive or the negative? The Apostle
Paul tells us in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are
true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good
report: if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these
things.”
It is time we came to our “Finally Moment” in life and begin to
see others and ourselves in our current situation and in the future, with
Christ. Forgive others for being human; there are much better things in store
for them. Forgive yourself, for the same
holds true for you too. Lets show the very
Grace Jesus gave us back on Calvary: Finally.
*Part of a sermon I heard
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