Anyone remember the childhood terror of getting picked last when team captains were picking players? Maybe you were always picked first, but for the rest of us, that was rarely the case. In the NFL, going in the 1st round can mean the difference of millions of dollars in guaranteed salary. Now imagine how you would feel if you had been hyped as a #1 pick but got picked 5th, 10th, or 39th!
Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened to Geno Smith, quarterback for West Virginia University. Due to few teams looking for quarterbacks early in the draft, Geno Smith ended up going 39th, even though his agents and the media had been hyping him as an early 1st round pick. Then, in what appeared to be ‘taking the ball and going home’, Smith said he wasn’t coming back for the 2nd round and fired his agents! Smith did come back for the 2nd round though, and was picked up by the Jets. I’m sure he will be well paid and have a great career…hopefully, with a bit more humility.
In Luke chapter 14, Jesus said, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you.”
We all get a little big for our britches every now and then. No one enjoys eating a slice of humble pie when passed over. But how do we react? Do you “honor one another above yourselves” (Romans 12:10)? As Jesus said, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).
