The National Basketball Association coach with the most championship victories is Phil Jackson, standing out with 11 titles. I was impressed that at least two people on Sunday morning knew who the record holder was by name. Of course, the more famous name is Michael Jordan. Phil Jackson won six of his 11 titles while coaching the Chicago Bulls, with all-star Michael Jordan on the court. Jordan has more name recognition, but Jackson is still the title-holding coach. Can you imagine how ludicrous it would have been if Phil Jackson had felt threatened by Michael Jordan‘s talent and popularity? What if Phil would’ve benched Micahel Jordan because he was afraid that the star player would be more popular than the coach? Of course we know that would be ridiculous! That is not what Phil Jackson did, but people can do strange things when they feel threatened. We just don’t do our best thinking when we are threatened or insecure. Jackson had his job as a coach, and it was to use his all-star lineup to the best of their full abilities, which is what he did with amazing results. King Saul on the other hand felt so threatened by David’s popularity that he didn’t just try to bench him, but on multiple occasions tried to kill him, either with his own spear (1 Samuel 18:11 & 19:10) or by sending him into battle, hoping the Philistines would do his dirty work (1 Samuel 18:7). (To be fair: David used that playbook to kill Uriah the Hittite.) Can you imagine how different Israel would’ve been if King Saul would have noted that he was the coach and king, and he had the All-Star talent named David as his team captain and army commander? They could’ve been an unleashed and unstoppable force, and hundreds of Israelites would not have died in the aftermath of the kingdom being split (2 Samuel 2-4). Yet Saul was threatened and insecure by the refrain, “Saul has slain his thousands, David his tens of thousands.” This refrain was known throughout Israel and even by the Philistines! (1 Samuel 21:11 & 29:5) What is true of Saul is true of us: we don’t do our best thinking when we are threatened or insecure. I still remember a highschool classmate being very angry at me because his girlfriend laughed at my jokes; he viewed me as a threat to a relationship I had no interest in, and that insecurity led to a breakup. Young dating couples get threatened and jealous so quickly, but that translates up to marriages as well. Someone who feels threatened often overexerts or underexerts their control in unhealthy ways, and that harms a relationship. If only Saul could have accepted that David would inherit the kingdom (1 Samuel 18:8) but made the most of their shared time together. Instead of David hiding out among the Philistines, David could have been unleashed against them. Yet what about us today? The church ought to be a place of reassuring us of our own security, that our identity is found in Christ therefore we need not feel insecure or threatened. If we start at the core, that sense of security emanates out to every other concentric circle of our life in family, relationships, work, and play. - Pastor Steven