Day 205: Good Sportsmanship
Proverbs 24:17
Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them.
Principle
Don’t spike the ball when you’ve scored. Be a good sport.
David’s rebellious son, Absalom, had orchestrated a treasonous insurrection against his father – the King of Israel. Absalom died in a tree of rebellion. Two messengers heralded the news to David – Ahimaaz and a Cushite. When they both arrived, there were two approaches to the king – Ahimaaz gave the good news of the winning battle but avoided telling David the bad news – the Cushite flippantly spoke of Absalom’s death, “May, the enemies of my Lord the king and all who rise to harm you be like that young man.” (2 Samuel 18:32)
This is a great lesson to not gloat over the downfall of those who oppose you. We can often see the character of God when we see the principles that He expects us to live by – in this case; God shows us that we’re not to be cheerful and joyful when people suffer. This is contrary to most people’s response to seeing the destruction of their enemies – yet, this is the godly approach.
Let’s bring this down to the application of good sportsmanship. I’m a fan, but I’m not going to be obnoxious about it when my team wins. It’s just not that important to me. We should show good sportsmanship as a fan.
Remember:
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