“Those who despise flagrant sinners,and honor the faithful followers of the Lord,and keep their promises even when it hurts.”

I grew up playing sports of all kinds so I understand the rules of most games.  Something we didn’t have were “Flagrant Fouls”.  A foul was a foul and there wasn’t a need for a distinction.  As I was watching the Warriors play the Jazz on Saturday night, Kevin Durant was charged with a “Flagrant Foul 1.”  This is the lesser of the two, where a “Flagrant Foul 2” will get you ejected and reviewed for a possible suspension.  In the workplace there are also levels of infractions with the worst ones getting one fired on the spot.  But, there are gray areas that will be interpreted by higher-ups to determine what is the penalty warranted.  In industry, with all of the transparency and whistle-blowing possibilities, we are better to stay clear of any and all fouls to be committed because to what one would seem insignificant, to another could be considered criminal.

Today in our jobs we will both receive and inflict fouls.  It might be that we feel that we are on the receiving end of such an infraction that we have an expectation that the person fouling should be thrown out immediately. But more than likely we will feel that we are experiencing an ongoing set of fouls that start to eat at us and get us down. God doesn’t want us to be in that place.  He gives us hope, promises, blessings and peace so that we can overcome what has been set upon us. We can’t control when we get fouled, but we can control how we react and respond.

Reference: Psalm 15:4 (New Living Translation)