What’s in Your Wallet?

He was arguably the greatest basketball coach of all time, whether at the college or professional level. He broke all kinds of records. He led the UCLA Bruins to ten national titles in twelve years, including seven consecutive championships. His players at one point won 88 games in a row, and he was chosen as the national coach of the year six times.

As you may know, he was John Wooden. He died in 2010, just a few months shy of his 100th birthday. Wooden believed that, before you could lead anyone else, you had to lead yourself. His personal principles empowered him to have the great influence he exerted, both on and off the court. No matter your field, whether ministry, business, or sports, you would do well to study the life and character of John Wooden.

What made the difference in his life was an item that he kept in his wallet.

It was a piece of paper that Wooden's father gave him when he was only twelve. Tattered and worn, it was his constant companion and source of guiding principles. Here’s how it read:

Be true to yourself.

Make each day your masterpiece.

Help others.

Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible.

Make friendship a fine art.

Build shelter against a rainy day.

Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.

For 87 years, until he was 99 years old plus, this creed molded Coach Wooden’s life.

In addition, he believed that happiness comes from making and keeping nine promises:

1. Promise yourself that you will talk health, happiness and prosperity as often as possible.

2. Promise yourself to make all your friends know there is something in them that is special that you value.

3. Promise to think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best in yourself and others.

4. Promise to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

5. Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

6. Promise to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements in the future.

7. Promise to wear a cheerful appearance at all times and give every person you meet a smile.

8. Promise to give so much time improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

9. Promise to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit trouble to press on you.

If the Apostle Paul had owned a wallet, what would he have kept in it? What were his guiding principles, his compass points, his fundamental beliefs? Here is a passage that gives us a clear sense of the road map that he followed, and the one that must be ours as well.

Phil 3:8–14 (NASB95)

8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

What’s in your wallet?

Cory Collins