September 2016 Articles

Archives by Months

God Bless Football

Spiritual Corner”

God Bless Football This past weekend was a big weekend for a lot of people, my family included. It was the opening weekend of college football—such an exciting time! I’ve always enjoyed football, but now that I’m married to a man who is extremely passionate about the game, it’s caused my love for it to grow even more. Seeing that I’m a Louisiana native married to an Okie, we had 4 teams we were keeping up with , which I’m sure you could guess: Oklahoma University, Oklahoma State University, Louisiana State University, and Louisiana Tech University. The weekend was somewhat disappointing, as only 1 of our 4 teams pulled out a victory. As I was reviewing the games in my head, I started thinking of some things in football that make a victory difficult. Sometimes, the other team is simply BIGGER. It can be difficult to block, or hold off, a player who has a 50 pounds or more weight advantage over you. Football is also full of hard hits, which occasionally leaves players injured, therefore making a victory more difficult to obtain. There are times in games where the defense is so strong that all of a team’s offensive options are cut off. Other times, for whatever reason, the coaches and team just don’t come prepared for what their opponent brings to the field. And finally, there are times that, no matter how hard-fought and close a game is, one team just comes up short. Thinking about all of this made me realize how much football could be related to real life. Sometimes in life, our problems are bigger than us. Situations occur that are much bigger than what the average human can handle. We often get dealt some very hard hits, which leave us in pain, and sometimes prevent us from continuing forward. There are times when we feel out of options. Life is too strong and we can’t find a way to deal with it. Other times, we just feel completely shanghaied and unprepared for what we are being faced with. Finally, in the end, sometimes no matter how hard we try, we just feel like we keep coming up short and narrowly missing the victory. Here’s the good news. In fact, GREAT news! Football can also be compared to the Christian faith. Instead of a mere playbook, we have the Bible to refer to and help guide us through the game of life. A football team is also full of teammates, who support each other and pick up each other’s slack. They make sure the other is always pumped up and doesn’t make any ignorant mistakes. The Holy Spirit is like our teammate. He keeps the fire for the LORD burning in our hearts and helps to lead us and prevent us from falling into sin. He supports us and prays for us, as it says in Romans 8:26, “[…] the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words”. (NLT) Football teams also have fans. These fans are “diehard” and love their team through the good and the bad. Sometimes they are people who have played football before and therefore, can relate to the players and game. Regardless, they are 100% in their team’s corner. Jesus is equivalent to our fans. He lived as a human and therefore, understands what we are going through. He also loves us no matter what good or bad we do. Jesus is ALWAYS in our corner and is the definition of a “diehard” fan, as “He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds [we] are healed” (1st Peter 2:24). Lastly, a football team has its ever-fearless leader: the coach. The coach dedicates his time and himself to his players. He instructs the players on what they need to do and disciplines them when they don’t do it. He leads them through wins and losses and always pushes them to be their best. God is our coach in life. He is always present and constant in our lives as He’s promised, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5—NIV). God lays out His commandments for us, and also convicts or disciplines us as needed. God leads us through the good times and the bad times.
You must know though, that there is one BIG difference between a football team and God’s team of Christianity...God’s team is ALWAYS victorious! God is unlike any other coach. He NEVER makes a mistake, always makes the right call, and never lets His team down. The Holy Spirit is the most loyal and supportive teammate there is and Jesus is truly our #1 fan. Once we have obeyed the Gospel, we become part of God’s team. As mere humans, we will never be good enough, but with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, we are always prepared, we never run out of options, our problems are never too big for us, the hardest hit can’t knock us down, and we never come up short in the end. We are victorious because God drew up and executed the perfect game plan—He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for all of our flaws and imperfections. Now we can forever celebrate our team’s victory—here on earth by sharing it with others, and for an eternity in Heaven. I’m thankful for football season. I love those Cowboys, Tigers, and especially Bulldogs. More important than that, I’m thankful to be a part of the greatest team, God’s team. It’s a team that welcomes all and that will undeniably go down as the most victorious team in the history of the world. Not part of His team? Ask me how you can join today. :) —Dana Alexander