"Whoever believes in [Jesus] will not be disappointed." - Romans 10:9-11
I love football. It doesn't matter when or where it is. It can be my 14-year old son and his friends playing in our neighborhood cul de sac. It can be little kids playing flag football. Or it can be High School, Pro, or the best, College football.
I'm rarely disappointed when I watch or play football. It's not because my team always wins. Instead, I'm rarely disappointed because of what I'm hoping for. When I watch football, what I hope for is that I'll see a bunch of kids or adults who want to win. I hope to see people who try to win. And even after a win is not possible, they keep playing to the end as if a win were still in reach. In other words, the players believe that if there's time on the clock, then there's still time to try. If there's still time on the clock, then there's still time to give your best and have fun doing it.
That's exactly what I saw last night: ninth grade boys, Oak Mountain versus Hoover, every one of 150 boys, 22 at a time, trying their hardest and giving their best until the very last second ran off the clock, believing that any time to play was a great time to play, even though the winner had been determined with three-fourths of the game remaining.
That's the way it is with those who really, deep in their hearts, believe in Jesus. Any time to play is a great time to play. Until the very last second runs off the clock, life is worth living, not on cruise control, but trying hard and giving your best and encouraging others to believe the same, that any time to play is a great time to play, that any time left on the clock of life is a great time to live life, trying your hardest and giving your best until the very last second runs off the clock.
That's exactly what I saw yesterday midday: a bunch of, let's be honest, old guys, whose average age was like the numbers of football linemen, 60's, 70's, 80's. They meet weekly to pray and try to figure out how to get others into the game and how to get others to come together as a team and how to care and give your best until the very last second runs off the clock of life. But remember, they're not meeting about football. They're meeting about people, and life, and the living of life. Right to the end.
And the constant solution is Jesus. Getting people to know more and trust more in Jesus is how to get others into the game and how to get others to come together as a team and how to care and give your best until the very last second runs off the clock of life.
So these guys, in their 60's and 70's and 80's keep playing to the end as if a win is still in reach, namely the win that is winning a soul for Jesus Christ. In other words, these guys believe that if there's time on the clock, then there's still time to try. If there's still time on the clock, then there's still time to give your best and have fun doing it.
And they pray for you and try to reach out to you, hoping that you will grow in believing the same!
And maybe even join their team.
After all, "Whoever believes in [Jesus] will not be disappointed." - Romans 10:9-11
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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