My nephew is a sports fanatic. He will watch any kind of sport, but his true love is football. And as many fanatical fans do, he has his favorite team. And when his favorite team is playing he can be, well, passionate is probably the word. In the old days, his entire weekend would be scheduled around the television—he had to see his team play from kick-off to the final whistle.
Luckily for him, about the time the wife and kids came along, so did the invention of the DVR—he can watch his precious game in its entirety any time he wants to. The problem is, he insists on not knowing anything about the game until he watches it for himself; we can’t text him about the game, nor can we dine in any restaurant that may have it on or, even another game on that may have the little scrolling ticker at the bottom of the screen with all the scores.
He is adamant. He doesn’t want to know the outcome. Because knowing the outcome affects the way he experiences the game.
And as much as we like to give him grief about this, I must admit, I’m kind of that way too. If I attend the late service at church, the game is well under way by the time I get back home. I have to be careful even to have the volume down lest I hear the score before I can get the DVR to start playing. Usually, it works.
But sometimes, it doesn’t. Especially if I thoughtlessly check Facebook, and see the posts from folks who have seen the end of the game when I am only in the first quarter.
That happened recently, and I found out that my team had won the game. It was a nail-biter, with the lead changing 4 times in the final minutes of the game. Any fan knows that those kinds of games have your emotions on a roller coaster right up until the end.
Except that as I watched it, I knew the end. Knowing the outcome, that seemingly devastating fumble had lost its sting. That kick-off return by the opposing team for a touchdown didn’t cause the doubt and fear it would have, had I not known the end result.
I think life is a lot like that football game, except most of us live it as though we have forgotten the outcome. As followers of Jesus, we know Who wins in the end, yet we become disheartened at every fumble. An unjustly thrown flag can cause us to doubt and struggle. And when the other team scores, we can willingly go sit on the bench and watch from the safety of the sidelines.
Every football game has its share of interceptions, missed tackles, and lousy calls—that’s just the nature of the game. And life is full of them too. Jesus tells us in John 16:33 that we are to expect them.
In this world, you will have trouble.
But He also tells us the ending of the game.
But take heart! I have overcome the world.
When we are playing on God’s team, the game goes a little differently; even our mistakes are used to our advantage. When’s the last time you were grateful for a forced punt? Probably never. But God—oh , how I love those two words—but God will take every miscue, every time you stepped off-sides, and every time someone ‘held’ you and cause it to enhance your game. Imagine putting points on the board for every time you ran out of bounds.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose –Rom 8:28
So, each morning as we put on our uniform and head out on the playing field of life, let us continually strive to move the ball forward, never taking our eyes off the goal. Let us not be distracted by the penalty flags, or intimidated by the size of the opposing team’s players. But instead, might we invite God into our huddle, and allow Him to call the plays.
By doing that, we will play the best game of our life.
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