With the NFL Draft coming up next week, several players appear to be locked in by a specific team. But as fans, we have a hard time deciphering between fact and fiction because of all the rumors, mock drafts, and false information floating around.
Although we enjoy the predicting that takes place and we listen to the NFL Draft analysts tell us what is supposed to happen and where players are expected to go, the stories being reported are purposely false because teams are feeding them misdirections.
On Barrettsportsmedia.com, Demetri Ravanos writes, "Guys like McShay and Daniel Jeremiah are in no-win situations. They have to report what teams are telling them. That is what gives credence to their "NFL Draft Insider" title and that title is what justifies their employment. But they also have to know that they are trying to report on an event built around smokescreens."
Ravanos further explains, “From the second a team’s season comes to an end until the end of the three-day event, teams are playing an extended game of poker. There’s deceit meant to get an opponent to act. There’s bluffing to throw other teams off the scent of your true intentions."
Next week, we'll be blown away by certain draft picks and moves that teams make because we never saw them coming and that, of course, is intentional. GMs, coaches, and agents are all using smoke screens leading up to the draft for their own benefit.
A smoke screen is defined as “a ruse designed to disguise someone’s real intentions or activities.” Unfortunately, we also use this tactic in our own lives.
We position ourselves to come across in a way we think will be beneficial to us...or we tell half-truths to get what we want. We mislead people and send misdirections so we can conceal our real intentions and activities.
We want others to believe certain things and buy a "storyline" about us that isn't true. When we do this, we make it hard for people to “decipher fact from fiction” in our lives.
However, as followers of Jesus, we must live with integrity and speak the truth in love. When we follow Him, we'll no longer want to wear "masks" or puff ourselves up. We also won't feel the need to trick people into thinking we’re something we're not or going to do something we won't follow through with.
Thankfully, we don’t have to live our lives based on lies because when we know Jesus we know the truth and He's given us grace and freedom. We don't have to pretend like we have it all together and tell people what we think they want to hear. Jesus provides us the strength we need to reveal the truth about Him and ourselves.
Paul shares his heartbeat in a letter found in 1 Thessalonians 2:3-5 (AMP). Today, let’s be encouraged to drop the “smoke screens” and pursue a perspective like Paul:
“For our appeal does not come from delusion or impure motives, nor by deceit .“But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel , so we speak, not as to please people , but to please God who examines our hearts .
“For as you well know, we never came with words of flattery nor with a pretext for greed—God is our witness—”
I’m Bryce Johnson and you can UNPACK that!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I want to be truthful in my interactions with others and I desire to be known for my integrity. Forgive me for the smoke screens I put up and the ways I mislead people. Help me to move forward with pure motives. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.Discussion Questions for PACKS:
In what ways do you tend to mislead people into believing something about you that isn't true?
What are reasons why you might hold back the truth?
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