Every Tuesday and Thursday for a few years I’ve played basketball with a few other guys.

There have been glimmers of athletic ability; the occasional fast break lay up; the rare three point shot; and couple of rebounds. But most of the time I just fall down.

In fact, I count it as a win every day that I fall down less than three times. Most of the time it’s more. I’m not very good at basketball.

Nobody, including me, really likes to do the stuff that they’re bad at. It might not be good for your pride, but it’s good for your soul because doing something you’re bad at is a great check point to see how deeply you really believe the gospel.

When you only do the things you know, understand, and are reasonably good at doing, then you’re not really working the “gospel muscle.” But when you find yourself falling down because of your lack of coordination in front of 9 other grown men… well, you know pretty quick whether you believe Jesus really loves you and is proud of you.

The gospel reminders are everywhere. And maybe one of the tests this week for me as to how deeply I know, understand, and have believed the gospel is how I respond to something like a basketball game.

Though my knees are going to hurt, maybe my soul will be lifted up.