The basketball game was proceeding at a frenzied pace. Receiving a pass from his teammate, the hometown guard dribbled toward center court. The defending team was employing a full-court press, so our player faked to the left and drove hard to the right, dribbling to within fifteen feet of the basket. There he attempted a one-handed jump shot which ricocheted off the glass and caromed straight up off the front of the rim.

Amazed that he has missed the mark, our player stops in his tracks, his upper torso hanging limp in dejection. Looking toward the coach, he sobs his apologies and laments his failure. "I'm sorry coach," he cries. "I'll try to do better." But focusing on the error only has a reverse effect that causes him to question his competency and capabilities as a ballplayer and hinders his subsequent endeavors.    Ridiculous? Certainly!

But so is the other extreme, the player who, having missed the mark, shrugs his shoulders and says, "So what? Big deal!" Repressing the actuality of his inadequate performance, he turns down court with a grin, glibly mouthing that flippant cliche, "You win some; you lose some." Such a fatalistic repression and refusal to admit responsibility is equally inappropriate in pursuing the objective of the basketball game.

On the other hand, the seasoned ballplayer has his reflexes conditioned to respond to those times when he misses the mark (as all players do!). Although never intending to miss, when he does so it does not shatter his identity as a basketball player. His basketball abilities are still intact: he is still on the team and in the game. He has heard the coach yell many times in situations like this, "Rebound!" He is conditioned to follow through. At the very split second when he recognizes that the ball is not going to penetrate the cords of the net, he continues toward the goal to put the ball up again. There is but a momentary cognition of having missed the mark, during which his reflexes admit and concur with the appearance of temporary failure. But continuing his drive unabashed, he is lifted above the others to take that ball as it bounces off the rim and stuff it through the hoop. Victory is imminent in such a pattern of continuity which expresses a singleness of resolve to pursue the ultimate objective.

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   Are there not times when we as Christians feel as though we are in a "full-court press?" Life is proceeding at a frenzied pace. Our Christian expressions appear to "miss the mark."

   Witness the many Christians who respond in repetitive rituals of confessional apologies. Their confessions are but lamentations of wrong-doing that would seem to impinge upon the integrity and mercies of God. Focusing on their failures, they continue to wallow in the quagmire of sin and defeat.

   Equally incongruous are those Christians who gloss over their transgressions. Refusing to admit personal responsibility, they often ascribe their sin to divine inevitability and culpability.

   The relaxed Christian who understands his imputed identity and imparted resources in Christ, is not shattered by sin nor does he repress the reality of it. The momentary cognition of the inadequate manifestation of who he really is, suffices as the confessional agreement that God expects. Having thus "rebounded," he continues with a singleness of vision to be and do all that God intends him to be and do.