Football and Jesus

Football is a game of gains and losses -- trying to gain yardage down the field to make a goal, and trying not to lose too much of it.  We have lots of gains and losses in our individual lives, too.  My greatest gains -- and some of my greatest apparent losses -- have been because of Jesus Christ.  You see, God knew me and loved me before I was born, and he called me to be his child, before I was born (just like he knew and loved and called you, whoever you are).  But it was forty years before I really began to know him.

I was brought up with the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong.  I thought he knew the Bible better than anybody and had the truth revealed to him directly from God.  After he died in 1987, I began to understand how he had made a lot of mistakes interpreting the scriptures, and how I needed to revise my thinking.  Slowly, I began to have a greater appreciation for Jesus Christ.  Finally, in January of 1995, I was faced with the choice of holding on to my attachments to Old Covenant regulations or grasping hold of Jesus Christ.  Letting go meant loss -- cherished memories, the idea that I was more important to God because I did certain things that others didn't, and as it turned out, losing the respect of some family members and friends.  But it meant gaining a much clearer view of Christ and what he did for me. 

In 2 Cor 3:7-18, Paul writes about the difference between the law of Moses and the new covenant in Christ, and it's very plain he is writing about his own Jewish people.  Especially in verses 14 through 16, he shows that it's impossible to really comprehend Christ if we focus on Moses, who only pre-figured Jesus.  That was the change in thinking that I had to make, and that many of us faced, 17 years ago.  It took a leap of faith, since we had been warned that if we abandoned those teachings we would be punished severely by God -- but it meant gaining far more meaning in looking to Jesus Christ directly.

Paul addresses that gain/loss idea again in Philippians 3:5-11.  Especially in verses 7-8, he describes his pedigree of birth and obedience to the law, then says dramatically, "everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."  I echo Paul's words, with great joy!  Seeing the awesome power of Jesus Christ in scripture and knowing how the whole Bible focuses on who he is and what he did, has brought me incredible riches.


In football, we keep our eyes on the ball.  But what's our spiritual focus?  Jesus.  Heb. 12:1-13 reminds us "...let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith."  Our goal is not physical riches and health, but eternal life and the mind-boggling riches of knowing Christ forever.  That will mean losses in this physical life -- but immeasurable gains in the age to come.  So let's keep our eyes on Jesus!

Seen and Unseen

What's more real -- the things you can see, or the things you can't see? Most people think, well, for sure, it's what you can see. And feel, and taste, and smell and hear. But the vast majority of the light spectrum is not visible to humans, neither is the range of sound waves. I wonder about touch and taste and smell?

Paul writes a lot in Second Corinthians about what's real and what's not. He writes in terms of what is eternal versus what is only physical and temporary. He tells us that what is most real is what we don't (yet) see, because it will be revealed one day, and that it is eternal. For instance, in 1:9, telling about the way they were persecuted for the Gospel, he says " In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead." If Paul felt that physical life was the only life that mattered, he would have certainly despaired. But knowing that God had something more for him, he could hold on to hope even though physical life might be ending.

What's he basing that on? An absolute certainty of the promises of God. In chapter 1:3, "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort." Through the story of their suffering in chapter 1, to the comparison between physical life and eternity (4:7 to 5:10) Paul is confident that all will be well because God will see us into the future safely no matter what we face today. Even while suffering some sort of 'thorn in the flesh,' he received the message that God's grace to him was more powerful than any other issue: "Each time he said, 'My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.' "

Today I have all sorts of needs: physical, emotional, financial, time pressure, and others. It's easy to look around and think the list of factors against me is impossible ever to overcome. But Paul's words keep coming back to help me. God's overwhelming power, and his grace -- his focus on delivering what is best for us no matter what troubles we think will defeat us -- will win in the end. Paul could call his troubles, which were far greater than mine, "momentary light affliction" in chapter 4. Maybe I should too.