Major on the Major and minor on the minor
Pre Game
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40
Warm Up
Every point you play in tennis counts as one point on the score board. But some points have significantly different consequences. For example: If the score is 15-15 and you win one point your only ahead 30-15. But if you are ahead 40-30 and you win the point you win the game. Even the final point of a tennis match called “matchpoint”, only counts as one point on the scoreboard but if you win that point, you win everything. So as you can see there are some points that are more valuable than others. These points we consider major but the other points are minor. Both are important, because you cant get to the big points without winning the minor ones.
Heres an example from a match Andy Roddick played in a few years back. Andy lost the match but when you looked at the total points won, he actually won more total points than his opponent. His opponent won the major points and lost several minor ones. He wasn't intentionally focusing on not getting the minor points, his opponent was simply making sure that he took care of the major ones. What is important is to play each point according to its context. Major on the major and minor on the minor.
In life we also play many points. Some are major and some are minor. Someone once asked Jesus what the biggest points in life were in Matthew 22:36 when the Pharisees asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus responded with a simplistic, yet difficult, answer in Matthew 22:37-40 saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.”
In sports and life we need to major on the major and minor on the minor. Sometimes in life we major on the minors and minor on the majors, but God has clearly laid out what His majors are. How do we respond?
Game Time
What are the majors you need to focus on more?
What are the minors you might be putting too much focus on?
