Leadership
What We Can Learn from the World Champion Seattle Seahawks
Allow me to to bask a few moments in the afterglow of Seattle’s first men’s professional sports championship in thirty-eight years.
Seattle Seahawks 43 – Denver Broncos 8.
I’ve gone full circle in sports enthusiasm in my lifetime. In my younger years, sports was an idol that I lived, slept, dreamt and loved far too much. After I became a disciple of Jesus, I ran to the other extreme and threw away all my athletic trophies and scrapbooks in a burst of religious zeal.
A few years back, God brought me to a place of wiser moderation. Jesus is the supreme love of my life and nothing takes His place in time, thought, commitment and passion. I can also enjoy watching the occasional sports contest with interest and enjoyment.
Superbowl 48–the most watched TV broadcast in American history–stimulated that kind of interest and joy. But it goes much deeper for me.
What can we learn from the World Champion Seattle Seahawks?
What We Can Learn from the Seahawks
1. Don’t believe the doubters. Seattle was recognized as a good team in 2013, and for much of the year stood at the top of the NFL Power Rankings. In December, their offense struggled and some analysts began to doubt their ability to go the distance.
Bookmakers made them underdogs in the Superbowl against the Broncos and their legendary quarterback, Peyton Manning. Most of the lead-up to the game appeared to be a coronation of the highly respected quarterback. Certainly Manning would cruise to victory and be hailed as the greatest NFL quarterback of all time.
Instead, the Seahawks defense refused to believe the headlines and shut him and the Broncos down.
We need to learn from them and suppress the satanic and human voices around us that tell us we’re not good enough. Don’t accept the doubts. Do your very best and leave the results to God, whether you’re a student, secretary, soldier, factory worker, CEO, or NFL quarterback. Put your trust in the One Who Can.
2. Faith has its rewards and blessings. Many of the Seahawks players profess faith in Christ and have put their trust in God to save them from their sins. That’s why you hear them “thank God” when they’re interviewed and point their hands toward heaven after touchdowns.
The Making of a Champion shares the faith-stories of a number of Seahawk players and coaches and openly invites the audience to get involved in a local church. Jesus is Bigger Than The Superbowl is an interview with Mars Hill pastor Mark Driscoll that reveals some Seahawks player’s supreme priority.
Faith in Jesus not only restores us to relationship with God, but brings many blessings to our lives. In fact, when you hear various Seahawks say to the cameras that they are “blessed” by what they’re doing, you’re listening to a code word that means that Jesus has given them strength, talents, and gifts in life that they know come from Him.
Every good gift comes from God (James 1:17). Faith brings inner hope, confidence, strong friendships, better marriages, comfort in sorrow and many other “blessings.”
Let the Seahawks’ players inspire you to live by faith.
3. Defense wins. It is an axiom in sports–that great defenses beat great offenses. The Seahawks/Broncos matchup was a test of this theory as Seattle possessed the number one defense in the NFL and the Broncos sported a record-setting number one offense.
Yet, many pundits chose the Broncos. Then the game began and the Seattle defense absolutely dominated up the Bronco Express. It wasn’t even close. After a couple quarters, it looked like the Bronco players were “hearing footsteps” every time they went for a catch. The defense won the day.
Defense is important in our lives too. God is our Rock–we must take shelter in Him. We need to put on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness and take up the shield of faith daily against the attacks of the demonic world (Ephesians 6:13-17).
We, too, will conquer if we play good defense.
4. Character counts. This year’s Seattle Seahawks (with the exermption of the Richard Sherman rant) exemplified great character on and off the field.
Character is the sum total of your moral traits and include the attributes of love (1 Corinthians 13), the nine fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23), and many other godly qualities. 2 Peter 1:5-7 lists seven character traits including virtue, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, kindness and love.
Athletes who exhibit many of these qualities make tremendous role models for kids and people of all ages because of their notoriety. Let’s pray for professional athletes in all the fields of sport that they would be people whose lives are worthy of imitation.
5. Work hard. Seahawk quarterback Russell Wilson, at the ripe old age of 25, has already become famous for the saying “The separation is in the preparation.” Translation? Those who work diligently to be their best will distinguish themselves from those around them. Hard work is one of the primary tickets to success in a fallen world where we’re all competing for survival.
If you work hard like the Seahawks at what God has called you to do, you will also experience many triumphs. The Bible encourages us, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving ” (Colossians 3:23,24).
Let’s work hard for Jesus.
6. Use the talent God has given you. Sometimes when elite athletes talk about their skills (as when speaking to an audience of young people), they emphasize “going for your dreams, aiming for the top.” There’s nothing wrong with aiming high, but it comes with a caveat: it must be within the framework of the talent or gifts God has given you.
A wise and honest athlete once said, “You can’t put in what God has left out.” We must have a sober assessment of our talents, both athletically and professionally and then strive to do the best with what God has given us.
We all have special talents, aptitudes, motivations and desires. Find your own, be realistic about God has given you, and use those talents to the best of your ability. When you do, your successes will be just as satisfying as athletes winning the Superbowl.
7. Give God the glory. I loved it on Sunday night when numerous Seahawk players began their after-game interviews with a quick and hearty nod to God. The same thing took place at the NFL Honors banquet the night before. Almost every player chosen for a prestigious award began his acceptance speech with a heart-felt “I thank to God” before going on to mention parents, coaches, and others.
That little phrase tells you alot about a person. They know who their source is. They are grateful to the Person who really gets credit for their ability.
In the famous Chariots of Fire movie, American sprinter Jackson Schultz hands Eric Liddell (The Flying Scot) a folded note before he runs one of the biggest races of his life. It reads, “He who honors Me, him will I honor” (1 Samuel 2:30).
When we give glory to God, He turns around and honors us in multitudes of ways. Be sure to give God the glory for the accomplishments and blessings of your own life.
8. Aim, high and shoot long. Russell Wilson told many audiences this week that he went to last year’s Superbowl as a spectator to learn about how to get there. Then he and the other Seahawks set their bar high to aim at winning the pinnacle prize of American football.
Over our lifetime we need to set goals for how God wants to use our lives. We need to “aim high” (don’t settle for the mediocre) and then “shoot long”–in other words, have the tenacity to look long range and never give up.
Are you aiming high in your life goals? Are you willing to pursue them for years to the glory of your Creator?
9. Be humble and give others the credit. This was one of the clearest testimonies of the Seahawk triumph. Player after player deflected the attention off of themselves to their other teammates. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was especially good at this–giving praise to all of his players and lifting up the value of “team” above individuals.
It was hard to choose the Superbowl 48 MVP. Russell Wilson, Kam Chancellor, Percy Harvin, or the entire Legion of Boom all qualified! The award went to unsung hero Malcolm Smith who quietly accepted the thanks–and then immediately gave credit to his teammates.
That’s the power of humility–team–thinking of others. It’s a beautiful thing to behold, and also gives glory to God.
10. Don’t give up–persevere to the end. The Seahawks played a very steady game in Superbowl 48 which proved they were the best football team in the NFL. But to get there, they had to survive many epic battles, close shaves–even a rally from twenty-one points behind in one game.
Life is lived best by those who endure and don’t give up. They get knocked down, they look like they’re out, but somehow they muster the strength (in God and his grace) to trudge to the finish line.
It’s one thing to persevere in an athletic contest. It’s even more important to do so in your marriage, family, spiritual and business life.
In summary, I’m grateful to the Seahawks for bringing Seattle a championship after nearly a forty year drought. But I’m even more excited about the faith, humility, teamwork, and other character qualities that allowed this team to reach the top of their trade.
Let’s learn from the Seahawks and do likewise. That will make each of us champions in the ultimate game of life.
The Obama Scandals: Character is Destiny
It has been stunning how the growing scandals within the Obama administration have multiplied and widened over the past few weeks. It’s true that second term presidencies are often tainted by scandal during the final four years. Think Ronald Reagan and Iran-Contra in the late eighties and Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky in the nineties.
But those scandals were relatively minor and confined to one area of either policy or personal conduct. In the case of the Obama scandals, they seem to be popping up everywhere in numerous area of foreign and domestic policy.
I was tempted to title this column “The Chickens Are Coming Home to Roost” (to use the infamous phrase of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright). But that would overlook the central truth of it all.
In all of our lives, character is destiny.
I’ve thought a lot about the subject of character over the past few decades because I came to realize many years ago that I needed a lot more of it in my own life.
This coming week I’ll be in Texas speaking at an Hispanic Discipleship School. One of the subjects that they asked me to share on is the development of godly character. I wrote a book on that subject in 1992 with a provocative title–If God Has A Plan for My Life, Why Can’t I Find It? You Have a Destiny. The book is a study in 2 Peter 1:2-11 where the apostle describes seven building blocks of good character:
- Moral Excellence or Virtue
- Knowledge
- Self-Control
- Perseverance
- Godliness
- Kindness
- Love
Peter says that if we possess these qualities and they are growing in our lives, then we will be fruitful and successful both in this life and the next.
Good character produces a good destiny (and reputation).
There are many other character qualities mentioned in the Bible that emanate from the being of God Himself. In Galatians chapter five, Paul first lists a grouping of bad character traits: (5:19-21)
- sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness and orgies.
Then he turns around and gives the famous “fruit of Spirit” listing of great character attributes: (5:22,23)
- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
In the first list, a person chooses to develop bad character by not imitating the character of God but rather spiraling down into a self-centered world of narcissistic choices.
Paul’s second group is the opposite. A person recognizes their need for God in their life and invites the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to produce good character in them. They are being born again and cooperate with God’s amazing grace.
Good character is the totality of moral traits that we find in the Godhead. We human beings aren’t known for growing it in great abundance. It takes the invasion of God into our lives to soften and humble proud, selfish hearts and re-make them into the image of the Holy.
Character growth–being full of the Spirit of God–should be a supreme goal of our lives.
Paul follows up his teaching on character in Galatians 6:7, 8 where he soberly brings in the destiny part:
“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever you sow, you will reap. The one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
This is the original context of the chickens coming home to roost comment. You reap what you sow. If you have good character then good consequences will ultimately come to you (though not always immediately). On the other hand, if you have bad character (i.e. do shady, selfish, or evil things) then bad consequences (though not always immediately) will be visited upon you.
And so we come to the Obama scandals. Some things have been “sown” in this present administration. For a time they were hidden or beneath the surface. But now they have come to light and the consequences are beginning to set in.
Benghazi
Many people on the street are still not aware that this small Libyan outpost was the scene of a brutal terrorist attack on September 11, 2012 when four brave Americans, including US Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were viciously murdered.
Why has half of America never heard of Benghazi? Because during the 2012 election, the mainstream media in America chose to not cover this story to quietly aid in President Obama’s re-election.
That’s bad enough, but the greater story is that, from the very beginning, the Administration did not choose the necessary character quality of honesty to report the tragic Libyan events. We now know that the White House and State department circulated a bogus story about the deaths being attributed to a spontaneous uprising or related to an anti-Muslim video.
Benghazi is now a burgeoning scandal, similar to Watergate, in that there was a failure of leadership coupled with an orchestrated cover-up to limit damage to the president. In Nixon’s case, documents were stolen. In Obama’s case, security was neglected and four people died.
Time and many hearings will tell how close this gets to the president himself. But there is no doubt that the administration is now reaping the results of a well choreographed lie.
Truth or honesty is vital in all of our lives. Don’t get too high and mighty pointing your fingers at Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. What about your own life? Any cover-ups, misstatements of the truth, or episodes of dishonesty? Do you always tell the truth or do you embellish it at times for personal gain?
We all have a Benghazi-type incident in our closet. The present administration needs to come clean on theirs. How about you?
The IRS
Benghazi is the most lethal of the various scandals because it led to the death of four people. But the biggest scandal now being uncovered in Washington, D.C. is the monstrous perversion of the IRS to intimidate and harass faith-based and conservative movements in this country to silence their voice.
This took place through the non-profit division of the Internal Revenue Service where a different set of principles and tactics were used to suppress conservative voices over the past two years. I’m sure you’re aware of the story by now and it should send tingles up every American spine.
The IRS is the second largest and probably the most feared agency of the US government. It can destroy lives through both taking away our time and confiscating our resources.
The IRS must possess the character qualities of justice or fairness. It must treat all American equally with respect before the law.
To read just one example of IRS intimidation, click hear to hear Dr, James Dobson’s story.
The IRS scandal could bring down the present administration because the IRS touches the lives of nearly every American. If one group can be abused, so that another. That should trouble all of us.
But this scandal should also be a wake-up call of character for us individually. Do you treat all people and groups fairly, or do you carry a self-oriented bias? Are you fair with everybody or do you show favoritism to some?
Let’s clean up our act and be fair and just. Good things follow the sincere pursuit of justice.
The Associated Press and Fox News
The third major scandal swirling in Washington, D.C. involves the Justice Department collecting the phone records of hundreds of AP reporters supposedly to suppress the leakage of government secrets. But by nearly admission, the DOJ went way too far in snooping on reporters, and not focusing on the government leakers themselves.
In the case of James Rosen of Fox News, the Department obtained warrants for e-mails, phone records, and even monitored the phones of Rosen’s parents because they suspected Rosen of being a “possible co-conspirator” in violations of the Espionage Act. Even the Washington Post condemned this blatant abuse of the government spying on “its enemies.”
The bad character traits here are prejudice and concealment. The opposite good character trait is transparency–something that President Obama pledged his administration to when he first took office.
Again, all of us can relate. Got any secret sins that you’ve tried to conceal from others or a Holy God? While we’re rightly pointing the finger at some of our government officials, we’d better be pointing them simultaneously at ourselves.
SUMMARY
A major reason for the current Obama scandals–and there appear to be more than the three mentioned here–is the cancerous growth of government beyond accountability and control. Lord Acton was right when he said that “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Erick Erickson of Redstate puts it this way: “The more power any government has, the more power it will abuse. The more money it spends, the more money it will mis-spend. Dysfunction and corruption grow on government like mold on otherwise perfectly good bread. It has nothing to do with party or ideology – it has to do with human nature.”
The Obama Scandals are revealing character flaws within the Administration that will affect its future, its destiny. You reap what you sow. The chickens do come home to roost. Even if it is overlooked or suppressed in this life, it will be fully exposed in the next because the God of the Universe operates by perfect honesty, justice, fairness and transparency.
If the president wants a good personal and public legacy, then he needs to clean up the scandals surrounding him through the practice of godly character. Proverbs 28: 15, 17 tell us, “You can’t whitewash your sins and get by with it; you find mercy by admitting and leaving them.” And “Among leaders who lack insight, abuse abounds, but for one who hates corruption, the future is bright.”
If he tries to sweep them under the carpet or run out the clock on them, he may dodge a bullet temporarily, but not altogether.
1 Timothy 5:24 tells us, “The sins of some people are obvious, leading them to certain judgment. But there are others whose sins will not be revealed until later.”
Character is destiny. You can no more escape that truth than you can escape death itself.
So choose wisely to develop godly character. And choose leaders who will do the same.
President Obama and the Spirit of Lawlessness
President Barack’s Obama stunning political pandering for the Hispanic vote this week–granting amnesty to the children of illegal aliens by executive fiat–gives us another window into the soul of the world’s most powerful leader.
The picture is not pretty–and is actually quite scary.
The primary role of any chief executive, the ultimate position being the president of the United States, is to enforce the rule of law. That’s what he or she swears an oath of office to do.
But this president now seems to be making it a habit to choose which laws he desires to enforce. He is acting like a king or dictator, not the servant of law, freedom, and order.
The Bible calls this a “spirit of lawlessness,” and there are grave consequences associated with it.
I’d like to share a lengthy Scripture passage that talks about this spirit in detail. A “spirit” is either a heavenly being such as a demon that possesses a rebellious mind-set toward God, or a human attitude that mirrors the same. Let’s discuss the human side today.
Before we look at the Scripture, I want to make one thing clear: I am not in any way equating our president with the biblical Anti-Christ who is mentioned in this passage. Yes, there will be an anti-Christ global leader one day, but it’s also true that there are many anti-Christ attitudes and people in the world (1 John 2:18). It’s a mind-set–an attitude toward authority.
And all people, including myself, can participate in a lawless mind-set that is at war with the purposes of God. None of us are above it. We can all take on an anti-Christ attitude–if we choose to do so.
In this case, we’re analyzing the mind-set of the president of the United States. Remember that as you reflect on Paul’s words:
“For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed–the one who brings destruction. He will exalt himself and defy every god there is and tear down every object of adoration and worship. He will position himself in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God. Don’t you remember that I told you this when I was with you? And you know what is holding him back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes.”
“For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way. Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus Christ will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. This evil man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of wicked deception to fool those who are on the way to destruction because they refuse to believe the truth that would save them. So God will send great deception upon them, and they will believe all these lies. Then they will be condemned for not believing the truth and for enjoying the evil they do.”
“As for us, we always thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are thankful that God chose you be among the first to experience salvation, a salvation that came through the Spirit and by your belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-13 – New Living Translation).
This is a long passage with many insights. Notice a number of pertinent facts:
- Lawlessness grows like a weed when people have rebellious hearts (verse 3).
- There is a pride thing involved in lawlessness where we make ourselves “God” by the arrogant things we do (verse 4).
- Satan himself is behind the spirit of lawlessness (verse 9).
- People who share in the lawless mind-set are deceived because they are rejecting the truth (verses 10, 11).
- Lawlessness and its poison will be directly destroyed by Jesus one day (verse 9).
Now let’s return to our American president for whom all of us are praying.
Over the past three and a half years., President Obama, as an executive leader, has increasingly participated in a spirit of lawlessness related to his responsibilities.
An early instance related to immigration when his Administration sued the state of Arizona over its newly passed immigration law. Arizona wanted its borders protected and defended. The federal government wasn’t doing it, so Governor Jan Brewer and the legislature took matters in their own hands and passed a necessary law. The Obama Administration cried “foul,” and tied up the state in court. At the same time, the president made it known through Attorney General Eric Holder that the feds would not perform their duties. They didn’t like the law–they needed Latino votes–and wouldn’t enforce it.
A spirit of lawlessness.
Next up was the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which protects the five thousand year institution of marriage in all fifty states. In brazen defiance of this law passed by President Clinton, the Obama White House told Congress that it would no longer prosecute violations of DOMA. In the beginning, this refusal was bad enough. But when the president recently came out of the closet endorsing homosexual marriage, it was finally understood that he wanted to change the definition of marriage–and to heck with the laws of the land!
A spirit of lawlessness.
The president also made a priority in his first term to try and pass Cap & Trade–a draconian strangulation of the environment and energy use under the guise of curbing global warming. Congress refused the legislation, so the Obama Administration ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to do the same thing via a drip-feed method of agency policy. This move was a blatant end-around to circumvent the laws of Congress.
A spirit of lawlessness.
The Supreme Court has yet to rule on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), but I am expecting that either the entire law will be struck down or, at least, the individual mandate which forces them to buy health care against their will. The entire bill was pushed through Congress in a lawless fashion with bribes, back room deals, and deliberate confusion (Nancy Pelosi famously said they’d have to approve the bill so we could then find out what was in it).
The Obama Administration knew from the beginning that it was lawless–against the Constitution of the United States. But they wasted a year of our time–not helping the flagging economy–because the goal of lawlessness is dominating other people’s lives (tyranny). The end was worth the means to an Administration that wanted to grab control of one-sixth of the world’s largest economy.
A spirit of lawlessness.
This week the President of the United States stood in the White House Rose Garden and announced to the nation that children of illegal aliens, sixteen and under, would be granted special rights to work and live in America. Actually, it’s a good policy. I’m a supporter of the DREAM Act which would not have penalized children for the sins of their parents. That’s fair, a no-brainer and very biblical (Deuteronomy 24:16 and Ezekiel 18:20).
But again–the end doesn’t not justify the means. Congress makes the laws in this nation. Not the president. Yes, he can release executive orders in various categories, but not change the standing of American law. His job is to convince Congress of the right direction to go, and their enforce the laws they enact.
Anything less is haughty, rebellious, and dereliction of duty. It is an anti-God spirit that promotes its own will over that or others. It is the opposite of the spirit of the Kingdom of God which includes humility, selflessness, submission, and obedience to loving authority (Romans 14:17).
Family Research Council had it right when they described the president’s spirit of lawlessness:
“When Americans elected Barack Obama, they believed they were voting for a chief executive. What they got is a chief legislator and chief justice. If the administration doesn’t like a law, they call it unconstitutional and ignore it. If they can’t pass a policy democratically, they enact it anyway…The pattern of abuses is so out of hand that even media outlets like Politico are suggesting that the President’s ‘policy strategy’ is ‘ignore laws.”‘
“In the end, today’s debate isn’t about immigration. It’s a debate about the limits of executive authority — a conversation that goes back some 237 years. Our founding fathers shed a lot of blood to avoid what this White House increasingly resembles — a monarchy with absolute power. While the President can try to bypass the law, one thing he cannot bypass is voters. And ultimately, his interpretation of the separation of powers will be subject to the ultimate checks and balances: November 6 ballots.”
There is a lawless spirit operating in the highest echelons of the current White House. The last time this happened in these hallowed quarters was under the tenure of Richard Nixon, a Republican. He also thought he was above the law and could do what he pleased. His presidency crashed and burned. I voted for Nixon in my first swipe as an adult citizen. I regret my naive vote.
Now we have a Democrat who clearly manifests a spirit of lawlessness. Most of his lawless deeds are rooted in narcissism–a quest for personal power and aggrandizement. It is a scary moment for the American Republic. For when a your leader is lawless then the people are unrestrained.
A nation without the rule of law devolves into chaos. Is that the American future? I hope not.
Exercise your own self-control (and wisdom) by voting correctly on November 6.