Playing Second Fiddle
Bill E. Smith
Oklahoma City, OK
9/9/98
Playing Second Fiddle
Have you ever played second fiddle? This expression comes from a musical background. When I was starting out in our high school band, I played 2nd trumpet. The 1st trumpet carried the melody. I would fill in the background. To hear me practice my notes you would not recognize the tune, but when the band played together, my part added a lot to the tune we were playing. In fact, you can’t have a band without a 2nd trumpet. The expression, second fiddle, means that someone else is getting the recognition because he is out front, but that you are the support that makes his efforts succeed. Many people do not want to play second fiddle. Most want the
glory spot. They want to be out front, playing the melody and getting the applause. But life is that way. You must have some first fiddles; and you must have some second fiddles.
We read in the Bible about a man who played second fiddle. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him:
We have found the Messiah. Then he brought Simon to Jesus. Luke 1.40. Although Andrew later became an apostle, he was overshadowed by his brother Peter from then on. It is always
Peter, James, and John who are singled out by Jesus. Andrew stays in the background. And yet had he not been there, would we ever have had the aggressive Peter as an apostle?
On the job, in any organization, in the school, in the army, someone must be out front and get the honors, and then others must be behind them making it possible — playing second fiddle. This is true in the church. There are some
up front, before the audience, and then there are those who are making it all come together. In the home, there is the leader out front, but the other members of the family are keeping it running smoothly. If this isn’t the case, there is failure in any of these endeavors.
It is great to play first fiddle. You get the applause, and you get the credit. It takes a big person to play second fiddle. He doesn’t get the glory, but he makes it work. He has the satisfaction of seeing it work, and this is his goal. He doesn’t need the applause, he has a higher purpose, and he knows he accomplishes it. If we can’t play first fiddle, let us be content to play second fiddle and make it work!
—Bill E. Smith
