Turnabout is Fair Play??

     Over the weekend, I was given the privilege of providing the devotion to the athletes at a local Upward youth basketball league. The verse and topic for the league this week was centered on a well-known Bible verse found in Luke 6:31 “Do unto others as you would have them do to you”, a pretty fitting verse for athletes to champion as in victory or defeat the concept of good sportsmanship should be one of the main subjects “coached” and expected. As I was studying the scripture and preparing my thoughts I began to realize that not only would this be a sound devotion for the young boys and girls participating in a Saturday youth basketball game, but the whole concept of “doing unto others” would make for a fitting topic in this week’s Flat Tire Ministries Thought for the Week.
For the most part we as adults are familiar with this admonition of Jesus as he spoke to and taught His disciples. What many of us may not be as familiar with is that the lesson Jesus was teaching about was to love your enemies. In the same context, you can find the concept of “turning the other cheek”, and “if someone asks for your cloak give him your coat as well”. You see it’s easy for us to teach our children that they should treat others the way that they would want to be treated, but it gets a little more complicated when the “others” we are treating in the way we would want to be treated are not treating us so good in the first place. This is where it takes more than just a good-natured gesture on our part to carry out the true meaning of the lesson our Shepard was teaching to the gathered group. Too often we teach our children, students, and athletes to do unto others as you would want them to do to you with a little additional snippet, “as long as they are treating you the right way first!” Well that makes it easy to do! It’s pretty easy to treat those that are “playing nice” the way we would want to be treated, but what about when you can definitely say the other person isn’t playing “fair”?
     How do you react and respond at work when someone is hateful and negative about everything you say or any project you complete? What about that person driving down the road that cuts you off when it was obvious you were in the “next” position of traffic? How about at school when someone smarts off and makes fun of you or your clothes? What about when someone shows their prejudice or racist attitudes in your face? The list goes on and on, you name it and that is where the concept of “do unto others” applies. You see it’s easy to do good to those that do good to us first as Jesus pointed out in the verses that follow the directive to treat others the way we would want to be treated.
³² “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. Luke 6:32-34
     The true lesson is how do we act and respond when we are in those not so friendly situations? Let’s stay with the group I was speaking to over the weekend. What do we as parents or coaches tell our children when someone obviously gets too rough and they throw an elbow in our player’s ribcage? Well as most of you know I’ve coached for around thirty years and whether you want to admit it or not, I have more frequently heard parents and many times coachess instructing their child that “if he/she does that again, you do it back to them!” During my 25 years of teaching and administrating so many times I have heard students and parents say that the reason they shoved, pulled, pushed, or hit the other student is because that other student did it to them first.
The whole concept of “turnabout is fair play” is exactly what we are talking about here. The notion that if someone does something to you then it is acceptable to do something just as bad to them in return. If we believe the Bible is true then based on the scriptures and the words of the Great Teacher, “turnabout” is NOT fair play! When someone hurts us, when someone uses us, or cheats to gain an advantage, we have not gained a license to retaliate.
     Today’s message is simple, yet complex to accept and live out. As the verses above remind us it’s easy to be good to those that are good to us, the lesson Jesus taught was to be good to our enemies and those that have hurt us in the past. For us to break a trust is to break that bond that can never be mended. How fortunate we are that God doesn’t carry out that same form of “turnabout” when it is our forgiveness that we desire. We go about our lives without giving credit where credit is due, we take credit where credit is not ours to take, we turn our backs on our faith and attempt to live our lives the way we want to live them, and in some cases, we even deny that there is a God that is there for us in good times and the not so good times of life. What if our Redeemer treated us in a “you get what you deserve” fashion? What if we could not receive forgiveness for our past failures and our hurtful actions in life?
     Fortunately, we have a Father that forgives us even though we probably don’t deserve forgiveness. The comfort of knowing that regardless of how bad we turn our backs or how out of line we live our lives, there is a God who is faithful to forgive us our sins and loves us beyond anything we deserve. In return for the love God shows us and the forgiveness He gives us all we are asked to do in return is to “do unto others as we would want them to do to us”. Verse 36 of chapter 6 in Luke explains it best, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful”. He showed us first how to treat others so that we would never have to wonder how we are to react and respond in life’s situations. Then He forgave us even when we didn’t deserve it. Teach it to your children, coach it on your teams, and most importantly live it in your own life!
Coach Carter