Offense and Defense (Friday Devotional)

 

Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil.

- Romans 16:19

The objectives of dodgeball are twofold and they are simple. First, you want to try and hit as many people on the other team as possible with one of the big red playground balls that are flying around you. Hit somebody with a ball and they’re out—that’s the offensive part of the game. Second, you want to avoid getting hit by any balls yourself—that’s the defensive part of the game.

To be successful at dodgeball, especially in the late rounds when all the lesser players are already out, you can’t neglect the offensive or defensive sides of the game. If you’ve got amazing aim when throwing a dodgeball but aren’t quick enough to get out of the way when one comes flying at you, you won’t last long. On the other hand, if you can escape danger with the wizardry of Houdini but can’t hit the broad side of a barn when throwing, the best you can hope for is a stalemate. To succeed in dodgeball, you need offense and defense.

The same, it turns out, is true in our walk with Christ. At the conclusion of Paul’s letter to the Romans, he exhorts them to do two things: “be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil.” Wisdom about the good speaks to what you might call taking faith on offense—displaying Christlikness in a world that does not know the Lord, shining light in the darkness. Innocence about what is evil speaks to avoiding or eschewing those things which are worldly, eluding those traps the enemy places in your path—it’s the defensive side of faith.

A mature relationship with the Lord requires both of these elements, offense and defense, so that you can be a redeeming force in the world without being corrupted by it. Faithfulness requires us to know how to throw and dodge, to proclaim the gospel boldly and take refuge in the Lord. So may you have the courage to go on offense and the humility to go on defense—all for the glory of God.