Our Sufficiency is in God Alone!

Well, I suppose a “congratulations” is in order for all the Pittsburgh Steelers fans out there. With another Super Bowl victory, the Steelers have separated themselves from the rest of the league with the most Super Bowl trophies (6). At least the Arizona Cardinals gave you a game and even had us all on the edge of our seats right down to the end.

As many of you know, I am definitely not a Pittsburgh Steelers fan! Growing up in this part of the country, you are typically a Browns or Steelers fan. In my home, we were brought up to cheer for the Cleveland Browns and therefore also cheer for anyone who is playing against the Steelers. At the age of 9, I left my first love (the Browns) and turned to the Miami Dolphins and I have been a Dolphins fan ever since. Although I did not remain a Browns fan, the part about not liking the Steelers has stuck with me throughout the years. But, I do have to admit that lately I have found myself “disliking” the Steelers less and less. Probably for 2 primary reasons:
1. Because of the Steelers style of play. Anyone who knows anything about football has to respect the way they play hard-nosed defense and good fundamental football.
2. But, the second reason is because of their head coach Mike Tomlin. When the Steelers hired Tomlin I knew all Steeler “haters” were in trouble. Sure he took over a very good football team with a lot of things already in place, but sometimes that is a more difficult situation to take over than starting something from scratch. I have observed and listened to Tomlin speak on many occasions and I have always gone away knowing that this guy “gets it” and will be very successful as a head coach.

Now stay with me, there is a point to all of this!

Immediately after the game, Tomlin was asked the question “did you have confidence that you could do this (win a championship) back when you were hired?” The question being asked referring to Tomlin’s age when hired (32) and only one other African-American coach having ever won a Super Bowl (Tony Dungy). And it was Tomlin’s answer to that question, that I have been considering ever since. The question opened the door for Tomlin to answer by saying “yes, I knew all along that I could do this”. Which certainly would have been a confident answer and maybe some would even consider it an arrogant answer. But Tomlin instead chose to answer it in this way – “I had faith in the Rooneys…I believed in the process…and that they knew what they were doing”.

In that answer, Tomlin did something that we as Christians can learn from. Tomlin acknowledged that his confidence did not ultimately lie within himself as much as those who were in authority over him and chose to put him in the place that they did.

I hope that you are getting the point of all of this!

You see we have been chosen by God. As Christians, it is God Himself who put a calling on our lives. He has called us to Himself and made us His followers. He has also called us into His service. And if we ever have questions of inferiority or inability, we must remind ourselves that our strength and ability and confidence does not (and should not) lie within ourselves.

Think of how many individuals portrayed this in God’s Word. When God called Moses to be the leader of the nation of Israel, Moses was not confident that he was the right man for the job. Jeremiah told the Lord that he was too young. Joseph when questioned about his ability to interpret dreams, responded by saying “not me, but the Lord”. We are constantly reminded that our sufficiency is not in and of ourselves. No, our sufficiency is in the Lord.

If we have questions of whether or not we are talented enough…smart enough…able enough…then we are in good company. In fact, I would dare say that if we think we are sufficient for these things than God cannot and will not use us! Why? First Corinthians chapter 1 deals much with the calling of God on our lives. Listen to how Paul the Apostle describes it:

“for you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty…so that no flesh should glory in His presence…therefore, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord’”

Just recently in a bible study, we were looking at the life of Moses. Moses was a very unlikely character to be called by God and to be used in a mighty way. So, I stopped and asked our group “is Moses a likely character or unlikely character for God to use?” And both answers can be correct. According to the world, Moses is definitely an unlikely character but if you know God and you know how He works, then Moses is a likely character for God to put His hand upon and use in a mighty way for His own glory!

This is good news for you and me. We are “unlikely characters” as well…which makes us prime subjects for Him to use. So, like Tomlin, lets keep reminding ourselves that our sufficiency and confidence does not lie somewhere within ourselves but in the One who has chosen us and called us!