Coach Hypocrisy

We are still a couple of months away from college football officially starting, but there is some off-season drama taking place between two of the biggest coaching names in the game. Alabama’s, Nick Saban, and Michigan’s, Jim Harbaugh, are going back and forth in the media with their thoughts on “satellite camps” and the rules and benefits surrounding them. Each coach has a different perspective: Saban criticizes the camps and Harbaugh embraces them. According to ESPN.com, Nick Saban has never been a fan of satellite camps - characterizing them as “ridiculous” and “bad for college football.” Harbaugh, on the other hand, is all in. He makes his rounds at a bunch of camps and embraces the opportunity to meet recruits and their families. As these coaches continue to have conflicting viewpoints, the jab made by Harbaugh about Alabama’s recent violations (on a different matter) definitely stands out: "Somebody that had just recently broken rules and has that in their history is lecturing us coaches - us other coaches - about potentially violating rules. I just thought it was hypocritical. I thought it was a hypocritical act." There may be an excess of hypocrisy floating around in sports, but you and I can get caught up in it too. We spend so much time judging everyone else and calling others out for their mistakes that we tend to gloss over what’s happening in our own lives. We can clearly see the mishaps of other people, but sometimes we struggle to admit our own issues. The famous passage in Matthew 7: 3-5 (ESV) puts it this way: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” The truth is, we are all in desperate need of grace. Thankfully Jesus died on the cross so we can be forgiven. By closely following Him, we can begin to address the log in our own eye…instead of focusing so much on the speck we see in someone else's. I’m Bryce Johnson and you can UNPACK that! PRAYER: Heavenly Father, forgive me for worrying so much about other people making mistakes. Instead, please reveal the sin in my own life that I need to surrender to You. Thank you for offering me grace through Jesus, so that I know how to freely give it to others. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.