Guarding the Faith
Defense - it’s a word heard in every locker room before a big game. We hear, “Offense wins games, but, defense wins championships.” Every team stresses the importance of defense. Listen closely and you will hear, no matter the sport, coaches mumbling, “If we can’t stop the other team from scoring, we’re never going to win.” True. Unless you are playing golf, where the low score wins!
If you cannot stop anyone from scoring, you will lose virtually every game you play. (Ask the Carolina Panthers.) For most teams, regardless of the sport, the only pertinent discussion, is how do we play the most effective of defensives. A team can have the most innovative, dynamic offense, yet have no defense, and lose every game.
In basketball, defense will determine the outcome of the games. I was taught as a child the correct defensive positions. I can hear my coaches’ voices echoing in my mind even today. “Jeff, you need to bend your knees, palms out, head up, slide you feet, and beat the offense to the spot.” Over and over, I heard my coaches yell those instructions out at me. Today, when I look at most of college and professional basketball, it seems as if the importance of a good defense has been overshadowed by a flashy, high-scoring offense.
Back in the 1980’s a certain team (who will go nameless) used to slap the floor before important defensive possessions. This meaningful gesture represented each of the five members of the defense to give it their all to stop the opposing team from scoring. They knew this simple rule of the game - if your team cannot stop another team from scoring, you will lose.
Paul did not know about basketball because James Naismith wouldn’t invent the game until 1892, but his insights permeate through the game of life today. Paul instructed Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:20 to, “Guard what was committed to your trust.” Assuredly, Paul’s defense or guarding was a literal illustrations taken from real life Roman soldiers who were guarding him! We can glean from Paul’s words to always protect what has been entrusted to us (in this case the faith of Jesus).
Paul was adamant his flock would always have faith in God’s ability to keep His people safe. 2 Timothy 4:18 reminds us, “And the Lord will deliver me from every evil word and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.” Get this….most scholars teach that 2 Timothy was the final book Paul wrote shortly before he was killed. It seems as if Paul did not know an exact time of death for himself - only that his days were numbered. Yet, he still placed his faith in His God - always believing, “The Lord WILL deliver me.” For Paul, his best defense was the Lord’s offense. As the Spirit of God continued to circulate throughout the world (as it does today), He knew the obvious battle was not the chief battle. The obvious strife was Paul versus the Romans, but the overarching struggle was a spiritual battle. Paul knew his battle was not against “flesh and blood,” but against the demonic world.
Paul was determined to tell the entire world about Jesus. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Stand firm in the faith.” Firm. The world will try and knock us around, get us off balance, deflect our attention elsewhere, but we must make an extraordinary effort to stay focused in order to guard the faith. Therefore, we must not get lazy in our stance, not be distracted, but slide our feet to the left and right, and always be ready to rise up and guard the faith at a moment’s notice.