Unimpressive Accomplishments

Like the vast majority of the sports world, I was absolutely stunned when I learned earlier this week that Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo had scored an astonishing 83 points in a single contest against the Washington Wizards.

The performance was particularly surprising because Adebayo, though an All-Star caliber player, has averaged just over 16 points per game for his career and has never been considered one of the league's premier pure scorers. 

In other words, if you had to guess which player in the league would surpass Kobe Bryant's 81-point performance to register the second-highest single-game point total in league history, Adebayo may not have been in your top 25 candidates. 

After initially hearing the news, I naturally became curious and wanted to know more about his performance. After all, Adebayo must have put together one of the most dazzling performances in league history to score so many points, right?

Well, that’s where things get interesting.

In many respects, Adebayo's performance was, relatively speaking, not as impressive as you might think. 

Looking at the box score, Adebayo finished the game shooting 20-43 from the floor. That means his field goal percentage for the game (46.5%) is basically right at the league average for field goal percentage over the past few seasons (around 47%).

The numbers are even less impressive when you look at Adebayo's three-point numbers. In making 7 of his 22 three-point attempts, Adebayo finished with a three-point field goal percentage (31.8%) that’s lower than the league average over the past few seasons (36-37%).

What made his performance even more peculiar was how the game ended.

With Miami holding a comfortable lead and Adebayo rapidly approaching Kobe's historic number, the Heat began doing everything they could in an attempt to get Adebayo more points. 

In addition to feeding him the ball when he was often being triple-teamed by the Wizards, the Heat even elected to intentionally foul during the final stretch of the game to give Adebayo more offensive possessions. 

I don’t bring any of this up to slam Adebayo's performance or say anything bad about him personally. No matter how you slice it, scoring 83 points in a basketball game was still a very impressive performance, and I’m not taking anything away from what he accomplished.

However, I’ve never been less impressed by something considered such a significant personal accomplishment, which makes me think about our lives as followers of Jesus…and wonder how God might feel about some of the "accomplishments" we have. 

As Christians, we must always be intentional about remembering that God's kingdom's value system is at odds with the world's.

Though society might send us the message that we need to prioritize accruing as much money as possible, hoarding as many possessions as we can handle, grinding our way up the corporate ladder, accruing accomplishments and awards of which we can boast, or indulging in every desire of our flesh, Scripture paints a very different picture of where our focus and attention should be.

After sharing a parable warning of the dangers of idolizing money, Jesus said to the Pharisees in Luke 16:15 (ESV), "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God."

Jesus made it very clear that He’s not impressed by many of the things that might impress the people of the world. Some people might think it’s impressive when an individual works countless hours to accumulate a small fortune. Yet, if that person gives in to greed and idolatry, their "accomplishment" is not only not impressive to God…it’s an abomination. 

Because of the messages constantly swirling around us, we can easily lose our way and place undue emphasis on things that, in the big picture, don't really matter all that much.

While it’s not inherently evil to have money, to enjoy a successful career, or to perform in a way that merits some achievement, it’s wrong when we begin to obsess over those things and make them the primary goals of our lives.

In Matthew 6:33 (NASB), Jesus reminded His followers, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you."

Rather than seeking things that are considered impressive in the eyes of the world, we should be focusing our time and attention on things that matter to God, such as devotion to Him, growth in our spiritual life, and serving those around us. 

Remember, we could never do enough in our strength to somehow "impress" God. How would He be impressed by the amount of money we make or the possessions we attain when the whole earth is His in the first place?

How will He be impressed by our intellect or our achievements when He knows all things and can do all things with unimaginable ease?

Conversely, God says in Isaiah 66:2 (LSB), "But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word."

As we humble ourselves and devote our time to acting on God's Word, we are setting ourselves up for our best "accomplishments" of all. 

So today, let's focus on what matters most to God. Let's remove vain pursuits that we idolize to put together a life that’s considered great in God's sight.

I'm Matt Osborne, and you can UNPACK that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please forgive me for the times when I’ve been idolatrous and given too much attention to things that don't really matter. Help me to seek Your kingdom and to live all of my life for Your glory. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen.