After years of patience, key decisions, and growing as a team, the Denver Nuggets won their first NBA Championship on Monday night by defeating the Miami Heat.

The Nuggets were the best team in the NBA for most of the season and they were especially impressive in the playoffs.

As we reflect on their journey to becoming worthy NBA Champions, a pivotal moment happened ten days before Christmas in 2016.

According to Ohm Youngmisuk on ESPN.com, “Denver Nuggets coach, Michael Malone, was ‘racking’ his brain for solutions to jump-start his team, which was sputtering to a 9-16 start to the 2016-17 season.”

During this time, Nuggets center Nikola Jokic was on the team, but he was playing out of position and even coming off the bench, as he hadn’t become a 2x NBA MVP or Finals MVP yet.

The article continues to explain, “But after the Nuggets lost by 20 points against the Dallas Mavericks, Malone returned home late that night deliberating his next move. Malone had a revelation that changed the course of the franchise.”

Coach Malone told ESPN, “I’m talking to myself. This kid was All-Rookie as a center and here I am bringing him off the bench and playing him as a 4 and a 5. And I said…’Nikola’s a center. He’s our center’. And the next game, I started him at center. 

“From that point in time, our offense, our team, our winning, everything just went straight up. I made a decision that he would become the focal point of everything we do, every decision we make, every player we bring in has to be somebody that can play with and complement Nikola.”

Since then, Jokic has become one of the greatest centers in league history with his unique and elite ability to score, pass, and rebound…and has led the Nuggets to an NBA Championship.

As Malone looks back at the key decision he made, he adds, “Now knowing what this means, it was just a really truly defining moment in this franchise’s history because I think everything at that point in time changed and changed for the better… It was the best decision I ever made.”

It’s amazing to think how much changed for Devener once they made Jokic their full-time center, moved him off the bench, and placed him as the focal point of everything they did and every decision they made.

This is a fantastic sports story that provides us with a life-changing parallel today as we ask ourselves if Jesus is the center of our lives or if He’s more on the bench.

Is He the focal point of everything we do and every decision we make? If not, why isn’t He? What are we truly making the focal point and center of our lives?

When we live Christ-centered lives, He takes over as He’s living in us and through us. Paul writes in Galatians 2:20 (AMP), “I have been crucified with Christ [that is, in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith [by adhering to, relying on, and completely trusting] in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

When we surrender our lives to Jesus and make Him our everything, it changes our course for the better. No, this life doesn’t become perfect and everything goes our way, but we know we’re going in the right direction when we follow Him.

The Nuggets still faced injuries and losses along the journey, but the best decision they made was going all-in on Jokic. The same is true for us going all-in on Jesus.

After all, Colossians 1:15-16 (NLT) tells us, “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through Him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through Him and for Him.”

Jesus is the center of the universe, so let’s make Him the Lord of our lives and the focal point of everything we do and every decision we make.

It was silly for the Nuggets to leave Jokic on the bench when he could radically change everything for their franchise.

Likewise, it’s absurd to just have a little bit of Jesus in our lives or “leave Him on the bench” when we can make Him the center…inviting Him to take over and radically change everything!

So today, “Whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus [and in dependence on Him], giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17; AMP).

I’m Bryce Johnson and you can UNPACK that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please show me how to make Jesus the center of my life and the focal point of everything I do and every decision I make. Help me to understand what that looks like day-to-day and reveal the areas of my life I’ve been unwilling to let Him take over. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.