Although the excitement of March Madness is drawing near, there’s been some other kind of “mad-ness” taking place before the tournament has even begun.
I’m sure you’ve seen by now the incident during the handshake line following the Michigan and Wisconsin game on Sunday. Michigan’s head coach, Juwan Howard, was not pleased with how the game ended and some of the decisions made by Wisconsin head coach, Greg Gard.
Things got heated, the tensions escalated, and ultimately Howard smacked Wisconsin assistant coach, Joe Krabbenhoft, in the face. This led to a larger scuffle and the whole scene was not a good look for anyone.
Howard has since been suspended for five games and Gard was fined $10,000, while three players were suspended for one game.
I’m sure we can agree that a head coach shouldn’t be taking a swing at someone after a game, but of course, social media and sports talk has had a field day discussing and offering opinions on what took place and what should happen next.
Today I want to unpack the different types of responses people have had to the incident.
There’s a crowd defending Howard’s actions, justifying his frustrations, and downplaying what he did.
On the flip side, there are still people calling for Howard to be immediately fired while believing he has no business coaching kids.
Most people were outraged by the coach’s decision to hit another coach, but feel a suspension is a reasonable punishment. Although they can see he made a mistake, they realize he can learn from it and resume coaching after some time off.
And then we can’t leave out the group jumping to the conclusion that the handshake line should be eliminated from college basketball.
As for Howard’s response in his postgame press conference, he initially justified his behavior but has since made this apology: “After taking time to reflect on all that happened, I realize how unacceptable both my actions and words were, and how they affected so many. I am truly sorry.”
I sure hope we don’t see something like this again, but whether it’s college basketball or our own lives, there’s always poor behavior that triggers a passionate response.
My question for us to evaluate today, is how do we respond to sin in our own lives and the lives of others?
Are we numb to bad behavior and don’t care anymore?
Is our initial response usually to justify, defend, and give permission for the behavior?
Do we throw out the person and give up on them because of their mistake?
Are we quick to expect grace for our mistake, but immediately point our fingers at someone else for their mishap while demanding they be severely punished?
Are we okay with our sin, downplay it, and not think much of it…or do we reflect, admit our faults, and then seek forgiveness?
Do we only deal with the surface-level behavior or do we get to the root and the heart of the matter?
Do we learn from mistakes and help others learn from mistakes?
As followers of Jesus, how are we supposed to respond to sin?
First, we remember how everyone needs to experience the grace of our Savior.
Romans 3:23-24 (NLT) declares, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins.”
Then, grieving our sins, confessing to God, and receiving His forgiveness becomes an ongoing part of our faith journey.
1 John 1:9 (TLB) explains, “But if we confess our sins to Him, He can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins.”
When we do see sin in other people’s lives, do we have compassion and love for them that leads us to humbly and gracefully point them toward Jesus and repentance (turning away from sin)? Do we first take a look at our own hearts before responding?
Matthew 7:3-5 (NLT) asks, “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First, get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.”
Today, let’s praise God for His incredible grace toward us. When we do make a mistake or someone else does, let’s respond by looking to the cross, knowing we are all imperfect in desperate need of a Savior. Let’s pray for each other, humbly call out sin, and help each other learn from our faults as we pursue after holiness.
I’m Bryce Johnson and you can UNPACK that!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please forgive me for downplaying the sins in my own life and elevating the sins of others. Please show me how to respond properly to sin with grace and repentance. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
Discussion Questions for PACKS:
- How do you respond to the sins in your life?
- How do you respond to the sins of others?
