Instead of talking about the Cleveland Browns' important win last night against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the conversation surrounding the game is all about the unfortunate brawl - with pushing, shoving, kicking, and using a QB’s helmet as a weapon.
The Browns' star defensive end, Myles Garrett, has been suspended indefinitely for his significant role and the other guys involved have also been punished. It was a disappointing and egregious altercation between two teams that have had an ongoing intense rivalry.
As we process what took place, I want to focus on the fact that players lost their cool and Myles Garrett, in particular, snapped instantaneously. It's hard to fathom what truly prompted him to lose control and display such outrageous and unacceptable behavior.
The truth is, most people don’t go nuts or lose their minds because of one thing. Usually, multiple emotions, feelings, and decisions build up over time before someone explodes.
We can’t get inside Garrett’s mind or heart to know what would cause him to respond the way he did, but I do know that much more factored into his malicious behavior beyond just the previous play.
It’s not surprising that the game would end the way that it did when you consider the number of penalties, rough plays, big hits, and chippiness that took place throughout the night.
As the intense atmosphere continued to build, we probably weren't too shocked to see Myles Garrett roughing up a QB when earlier this season he was fined for his hits on quarterbacks and clearly admitted he wasn't going to change his style of play.
We should be outraged by what happened during last night's brawl because it was extreme, but I hope we can use this situation to address our own hearts and minds.
Maybe we believe we’d never respond that poorly in a similar circumstance, but we must ask ourselves what changes need to be made to make sure we don't explode in such a detrimental way.
The truth is, we must properly deal with our own bitterness, anger, unconfessed sin, unresolved disappointment, and other harmful emotions, so they don't build up and create a pressure within us that leads to losing it.
Properly dealing with compounding negative emotions and not allowing ourselves to “snap” requires self-control. Thankfully, as followers of Jesus, we don’t have to solely rely on ourselves to have self-control.
We’re given the Holy Spirit to give us the power to keep from exploding and can go to God's Word for encouragement. 2 Timothy 1:7 (AMP) says, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline ."
Proverbs 25:28 (NLT) tells us, "A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls."
2 Peter chapter 1 explains how “God has given us everything we need for living a godly life” and verses 5-7 (NLT) give us this instruction:
"In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.”
Today, let’s acknowledge the emotions and issues that might be building up inside of us and release them to the Lord. Let’s rely on His power and His Spirit to give us the self-control we need to remain calm and keep our composure when things in life start to escalate.
I’m Bryce Johnson and you can UNPACK that!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I know that in my own strength I’m weak and likely to snap and cause harm to myself or others. Help me yield to Your Spirit within me so that I can show self-control. Thank you for the peace You give me. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
Discussion Questions for PACKS:
Has there been a situation where you allowed emotions to build up and you eventually snapped?
What do you need to release from your life before you actually explode?
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