If you're a fan of the Washington Redskins, you might have been following this week's saga about running back, Clinton Portis. CP voiced his displeasure over getting benched in last week's loss to the Baltimore Ravens, making his complaint known very publicly in an interview with a local sports talk radio show. Naturally, coach Jim Zorn wasn't particularly happy about this - he would have preferred that Portis' issues would first be brought to him before being publicly expressed. Clinton's response - "he's just expressing his opinion"
Now, it's easy to dismiss this as another episode from a spoiled professional athlete. But, have you ever done something like that? Maybe you didn't express your frustration over talk radio but what about complaining over the water cooler with a few of your colleagues? Have you ever had a problem with your boss but instead of speaking directly with him, you chose to express your "opinion" with others? Here's another twist - do you find it easier to fire a terse email rather than to speaking directly with the person concerned?
If so, you're like many of us. It's so easy to see the foolishness in Clinton Portis' response, but not quite as easy to acknowledge similar sinful behavior in ourselves. Aren't you glad that God doesn't judge us in the same manner that we judge others? This isn't about condoning Portis' actions or response - it's about how we can use the his poor example as a window into our own sinful hearts... and through repentance and faith toward God, change the way we communicate at work.
1 comment:
good commentary, andre. it's so easy to react to athletes when they act like this. it gets my blood going.
there's another response besides the personal application, and that is, "what makes a guy like portis act this way?" the assumed answer for me is that he was hurt from being benched and his public criticism was a way of soothing the pain by getting attention. i don't think this is any different than what adam did to eve when he blamed her for giving him the fruit: he wanted to experience the feeling of being a pleasure to God, just as he had known since the start when God called him ‘very good.’ casting the blame on eve lifted the pain momentarily and helped him feel at least a bit of what he knew before.
i know that's a bit off topic, but i can't help thinking about it, and it assists me in making sense of clinton's foolish behavior. there's the personal ownership of my own sins, but there's also the compassion i need to have on guys like him.
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