Except For One

                  “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” 

James 4:17 (NIV)

            Not even a broken hand could keep my daughter from playing basketball in middle school. After just a few weeks of wearing a cast, she was cleared by the physician to play ball again with one stipulation: her hand had to be wrapped and cushioned during every game. It was healing perfectly and he didn’t want to take the chance that it might get re-injured.

    The injury did nothing to keep her from scoring points – and a lot of them – almost every game. At one particular contest with a major basketball rival, she had scored 20 points by halftime, even with a broken hand.  But something strange happened during the third and fourth quarters: the girls on the other team switched from trying to steal the ball from our daughter to grabbing and twisting her hand. Except for one.

    At first, my husband and I thought it was simply accidental but we quickly realized that the opposing team had one focus: to hurt her hand to the point that she couldn’t continue playing. Except for one. 

   We could hardly contain our anger at the look of pain on our daughter’s face as girl after girl tried to twist and pull her hand and she struggled to get away from them and continue to play. Except for one.

    When the game finally ended, our team had won by 10 points. All the girls on the opposing team went through the congratulations line and high-fived my daughter’s wrapped hand extra hard as they mumbled “Good game.” Except for one.

    As the girls left the locker room, our daughter walked over to us, holding her hand against her chest. It was obviously hurting her. But something else happened. The one girl on the team - the only one who never tried to grab her hand or hit it extra hard also walked toward us.

    “I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for what just happened,” she told our daughter. “At halftime, our coach told all of us on the team to try to grab your broken hand and hurt it so you would not be able to play the rest of the game.” She continued. “I just couldn’t do it. It was wrong. I just wanted you to know.” My daughter hugged her and smiled, “Thank you.”  

    Were there no other girls on that team who also believed that what their coach wanted them to do was wrong? There had to have been more than just one – and there might have been. And yet, only one had the courage to stand up for what was right, even though she knew her coach might punish her for not obeying what he told the team to do.

    I cannot help but apply the details of this ball game to my life. Have there been times when I ignored “the good” spoken of in James 4:17 that I knew I should be doing and instead of being the “except for one,” I joined the crowd? Surely not!  What about the elderly neighbor I knew was longing for company? The money I should have slipped to the single mom at the store but I spent on yet another item of clothing that I didn’t need. The lady at the gas station in tears who needed to know how much Jesus loved her. I hate to tell you but my answer is “yes.”

    What about you? Can you relate? This Scripture quietly but firmly speaks to our hearts. “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” You and I may be the “except one” that the Lord is sending to those around us. And when we ignore His nudging, we sin. Period.

    My encouragement for all of us is to look for ways to do good for those around us. God gives us strength and courage to leave the crowd and be an example of Jesus in every opportunity we have. Never forget that you may be the “except for one” in someone’s life.

    Father, please help me to be bold and to be a positive influence in the lives of those around me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.  

 R.A.P. it up . . .

 Reflect

• Can you think of a situation where you knew the positive action – the “good” - you should do but you did not speak up?

• What was your reason for not speaking up or taking action?

Apply

• Look at situations from the last week when you should have acted as the Lord commands. How did you react? Could you have been the “except one” for the Lord? 

• Journal each situation and the response that the Lord wants you to have. Look for ways you can be the “except for one” as you “do good” around you.

Power

• James 4:17 (NIV) “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”

• Romans 12:21 (NIV) “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

• James 1:22 (NIV) “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”