After Saturday night’s 119-108 win over the Lakers, the Denver Nuggets have a 3-0 series lead in the Western Conference Finals and are one win away from the NBA Finals. The Nuggets have been the number-one team in the West since December and they're showing everyone they're built to win a championship. Even as a Lakers fan, I acknowledge that the Nuggets are just too good and playing too well together for the Lakers to come back in this series. Unquestionably, the team has had an all-around impressive performance, but how they got to this point is worth unpacking and celebrating today. The Athletic’s, Sam Amick, wrote about this in an article with the headline, “What Michael Malone and Jamal Murray Tell Us About Nuggets Patience — Like Not Trading Murray — Paying Off.” Amick writes, “But this Nuggets story, one that never could have unfolded if they hadn’t taken the long view all along the way, is the kind of thing that should make power brokers around the league think twice.” Denver’s head coach, Michael Malone, previously coached the Sacramento Kings before he was fired just 24 games into his second season. The Nuggets then hired him and the ownership could have followed a similar strategy after he was Denver’s head coach for three years and missed the playoffs each season. But unlike the Kings who have since hired five different coaches, and many other franchises in all sports who quickly fire coaches at the first sign of loss or disappointment, the Nuggets’ owners didn’t do that. Instead, they gave Malone more time to build and develop the team. The Nuggets’ roster has been constructed around core players picked up primarily through the draft: the future 2x NBA MVP, Nikola Jokić, 41st overall out of Serbia in 2014 (and didn’t arrive until a year later); Jamal Murray, 7th overall in 2016; and Michael Porter Jr., 14th overall in 2018. Each of these guys has been critical to the success of the team, despite there being reasons to give up on them in years prior. Sam Amick asks in his article, “What if they’d decided not to build around Jokić, whose unorthodox style and physique created so much doubt around the league during those early years? "What if they’d pivoted off of Jamal Murray — both before and after the ACL tear that cost him all of last season? "Ditto for Michael Porter Jr., whose long history of back problems made the choice to give him a massive extension in September 2021 look so questionable at the time.” The Nuggets showed patience and endurance by not making rash decisions to trade these key players or fire their coach. Embracing development over instant results, they established a solid foundation that allowed the team to grow and be prepared for the moment they're in right now. Patience wins! Michael Malone told Amick, “Just the ability of ownership to be patient and not overreact (was key). Patience is not something you talk about in the NBA, or pro sports. And I think I, and we, are a perfect example of the results of being patient and saying, ‘You know what? Let’s continue to let this grow and marinate and mature and then we can see what we really have.’ And I think we’re seeing it.” We all know that patience in sports is rare, but we also struggle to be patient in our everyday lives. Don't we all want instant results...immediate answers to our prayers...and doors to open right away? Oftentimes, we get so impatient when things aren’t happening as quickly as we want that we start overreacting and making rash decisions. We start “trading” patience and trust for impatience and discouragement. Instead of waiting for the proper time and allowing development and growth to take place, we give up too soon. As followers of Jesus, we must remain patient, and trust God’s process and the work He’s doing in us, and through us while we wait. Galatians 6:9 (NLT) gives us this encouragement: “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessings if we don’t give up.” As we wait for God's perfect timing, we can patiently endure if we rely on the Holy Spirit within us. Galatians 5:22-23 (AMP) tells us, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love , joy, peace, patience , kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” How are we acting while waiting? Are we frustrated, discouraged, and hopeless, which leads to rash decisions and trying to get ahead of God? Or, are we patient with peace because we trust God is moving and the harvest of blessings is coming? Today, let’s yield to the Holy Spirit to have the patience we need and pray what Paul prayed for the Colossian church in Colossians 1:11-12 (NLT): “We also pray that you will be strengthened with all His glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to His people, who live in the light.” Patience wins! I’m Bryce Johnson, and you can UNPACK that! PRAYER: Heavenly Father, forgive me for being so impatient and frustrated when things aren’t happening as quickly as I would like. Please help me to trust in Your timing and Your plan and be patient as I wait. Show me how to live by the Spirit so I can experience patience, and not give up. I desire to do Your will. Thank you for the work You’re doing to grow and develop me. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR PACKS:
What do you have to be patient about today?
How has God developed and grown you through seasons of waiting?
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