One advantage of being a football fan is that I get plenty of opportunities to partake of the wisdom of the sports analysts. Defensive schemes that don’t work and how to incorporate dink-and-dunk into the offensive plan. The nickel, three-four, four-three, crossing routes, finding the seam-the-crease-or-whatever discussions.
But a few Sundays ago, when the Cowboys’ performance was dismal at best, I heard a nugget from Darryl “Moose” Johnston… probably borrowed from a preacher. “Adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals character.”
Some of us-the character-builder advocates-live our lives with the attitude that the harder life is, the better off we’ll be. The folks who herald this philosophy (cranky relatives and difficult bosses) often take it a step further. The harder I make life for everyone else, the better off they’ll be. They’ll thank me in the long run. And some of us adopt the attitude of embracing adversity in an attempt to attach some meaning to our pain.
Moose had it right-adversity reveals character. When things get tough, we find out what we’re made of, and it usually isn’t pretty. The unveiling almost always reveals depravity. Failings. Weak-heartedness and selfish motives. Sin. Less-than-admirable character.
But Moose also had it wrong. Adversity builds character, too. The Bible tells us that trials come to produce endurance.
Consider Peter-adversity built, as well as revealed, his character. We see his weakness as he denies Christ, and we witness the new and improved Peter after going through his betrayal of the One he claimed to love. The testing produced an endurance that enabled Peter to become a leader in the early church-to display “the rock” of the profession of faith in Christ to a clueless world. Peter’s former failure launched his deep motivation to rely on Christ-he knew how far he could fall without clinging to Jesus.
When Moose made his sage comment during that first quarter football commentary, he left out some important points that most preachers would’ve emphasized. Hard times reveal our need for God.
Sometimes we don’t turn to Him until our options are gone, and He’s all that’s left. Difficulties also give God the opportunity to reveal Himself as a faithful Caregiver to His needy children, to woo us into a deeper intimacy with Him, and to give us a glimpse into the mystery of His ways. Adversity allows us to experience the deliverance of our majestic, mighty God.
Ah, the things we learn watching football.
(James 1, 1 Peter 1:6-9)
