The NFL Fast

Most people who know me also know I am fond of watching and playing sport.  In my adulthood I have been on 10-pin bowling teams, company and church softball teams, and have played baseball during the last few years.  I used to enjoy going down to the park and playing touch and tackle football (gridiron) on weekends and holidays with my brother and friends.  Being from San Diego, I have been a Padres and Chargers fan since the early to mid-80's.  Long before I had a TV in our home, I would carry my little battery-powered radio around and listen to the Padres games.  Every year I would actually write a letter to the Padres office to request the annual schedule.  Every year I rejoiced to receive that envelope in the post, stick my new schedule to a cork board, and listen to as many games as I could.

Even now as I sit at my desk, I can see last year's San Diego Chargers schedule hanging in plain view.  As much as I enjoyed the Padres, the Chargers have been my number one team for my whole life.  The quality of my Sundays as a kid was directly impacted by the Chargers, and let's just say growing up all those 4-12 seasons took their toll.  But I was a true fan.  Whether the Chargers went to the playoffs or won a single game in a season I stuck with them faithfully in good times and bad.  I remember the day when the Chargers drafted LaDainian Tomlinson.  I can say without fail I watched 99% of every play from scrimmage he ever had as a Charger.  When I wasn't watching the Chargers, I listened to talk radio of people discussing the Chargers.  I loved the games, replays, competition, drama, strategy, and the edge-of-your-seat excitement.  I love football, what can I say?

As the new NFL season is about to begin, there is something a bit odd about my schedule:  it is the schedule of last year.  I haven't printed out a schedule of this year because I am not going to watch a single game, even if the Chargers (against all odds, I shouldn't wonder!) reach the Super Bowl for the first time since 1994.  It wasn't my idea to take a season off from watching the National Football League.  It is not because of the rule changes, issues I have with team ownership, the vast revenues and salaries, the prevalent injuries, or the culture of pride.  The reason why I am not going to watch a game this season is because I am convinced God clearly has told me not to, and the way He did it was miraculous.

Have you ever had a time when your heart was unsettled and you knew something wasn't right?  Perhaps you found you were almost arguing with yourself, trying to convince yourself everything was fine - but there was a conflict within.  I have had many such internal battles during my life.  This year, of all things, I had reservations about buying my annual subscription to NFL Game Pass.  I felt conflicted about it, and I couldn't understand why.  One day I am certain God impressed upon my heart, "Admit it.  You LOVE football."  Immediately I denied it.  "I like football, don't be ridiculous."  But then I started thinking.  Before I had a subscription to NFL Game Pass I would set my alarm to wake up at 3am to stream a game from Australia.  I checked the website daily for news and enjoyed reading the articles and watching highlights.  If I wasn't watching football, I enjoyed thinking about it.  I relished the drama of the last second field goals, the amazing kickoff returns, catches, and runs, crazy comebacks, bone-crushing blocks, and talented feats of agility and strength.  "You are right, God," I relented.  "I DO love football.  I have loved it for a long time."

The fact that I would give up virtually anything to keep watching football told me there was something wrong with my love of the game.  Football may be the greatest game ever (and without question my favourite to watch or play), but even things good in themselves can be detrimental.  You may not think my admitting I loved football was a big deal.  So what?  Don't lots of people love football?  It is a big deal because I believe the Bible is the Word of God and therefore loving things of this world is a serious problem.  1 John 2:15 plainly says, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."  God used this verse to confront my misplaced affections.  My love of football - which is not an allowable exception to the truth of 1 John 2:15 - revealed my love of football was conflicting with my love of God.  Placing my affections on a game, a thing of this world, robbed God of love He deserved to freely receive from me.  That is why I initially resisted admitting I loved football.  And the implications stood:  it was either football or God.  If football demanded even a fraction of the love God intended me to demonstrate for Him, my priorities and my heart needed to change.

Even after I admitted I loved football, the resistance wasn't finished.  The battle continued as I was conflicted about what to do.  At some moments I thought God wanted me to quit watching football indefinitely, maybe just for a season, or simply to repent and to remain vigilant football was not claiming my affections.  Leading up to the Israel trip this year, I was still coming to grips with the fact I loved football.  Of all places, God clearly spoke to me in the Garden of Gethsemane during that trip.  As I sat quietly in the place where Jesus cried out to His heavenly Father facing crucifixion and death, there I was waffling over watching football or not!  I didn't want to even think or pray about the football issue, but it kept coming back.  I was disgusted.  I said, "LORD, I have the sense you are asking me to not watch football this next season.  Please clearly tell me what you want and I will do it."  Precisely at that moment, I raised my eyes and saw a small round item on the ground.  I wonder what that is, I thought.  I picked it up and began rubbing it between my fingers to clean off the corrosion.  As the face of Abraham Lincoln came into view, I was amazed to be holding a United States penny.

There I was in the Garden of Gethsemane in Israel, and to find a U.S. penny was shocking.  Faintly I could make out the inscription:  "In God We Trust."  Instantly I was reminded when Jesus was being tested by the Pharisees about whether the Jews should pay taxes to Caesar or not.  He said, "Show me a penny."  Since moving to Australia, I have not seen a "penny" for years.  The massive single cent coins in Australia were removed from circulation decades ago, and change is given rounding up or down five cents.  Jesus continued to ask, "Whose face is on the money?"  "Caesar's," they answered.  Jesus said, "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."  The latter half of Jesus Christ's answer hit me:  if God asked me to give up watching football for a year, that is His just due.  Since I have been bought with a price I must choose to honour God instead of myself.  In light of Christ's sacrifice on Calvary, was football too precious to give to God after all Christ had given for me?  It was settled then, and the peace of God filled my heart.  My heart rejoiced in God's love, and all doubts fled away.  I would fast from the NFL for a season.  I am not losing anything, for God is more than sufficient to fill my heart and mind in years past occupied with football.

God does not require us to do more than He asks.  Right now He has asked for me to give Him this NFL season.  He has not yet asked me to stop watching gridiron for the rest of my earthly days, but even if He did it is not too much for God to demand.  The question will come to us all who follow Jesus:  is there anything in your life that you set your affections on in God's place?  Are there things we are unwilling to forsake for the purpose of pursuing God?  We are told, "Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."  God may not ask you to lay aside the things you love, but don't forget at times He commands to lay aside even the things we need - like food!  Jesus fasted from food and drink for 40 days in obedience to God by the leading of the Holy Spirit.  The lesson is that man shall not live by bread alone but by every command from the mouth of God.  God is more necessary than food for us, and obedience to God is more important than sacrificing a century of football!  As we go through this life, God desires we forsake all other loves in response to His great love He demonstrated on the cross.  Football never loved me, but Jesus does!

Receiving Correction

The true measure of wisdom is not found in the amount of knowledge you possess, but your willingness to receive correction from God.  Christ has become for us wisdom, and a broken and contrite heart God will not despise.  Proverbs 15:31 says, "The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise."  How we respond to rebuke and chastening of God is one of the most accurate gauges of whether we are walking in wisdom or not.  Both the wise and foolish man hears the words of Christ, but the wise will adopt His ways.  The wise will heed His rebukes and take appropriate action.

This wisest among men realise God is righteous and good.  Even when God's ways appear unreasonable or ridiculous, a wise man humbly affirms that if anyone needs correction it is himself.  Habakkuk was a prophet of God who was dismayed with God's plan to use the Babylonians to judge the people of Israel.  It didn't make sense to Habakkuk God would choose to use a heathen nation which deserved the wrath and judgment of God to judge God's own people!  It seemed a grave injustice and inconsistent with Habakkuk's understanding of God.  It was utterly appalling.  How could God seemingly tolerate such great wickedness and refuse to defend God's people from violent overthrow?  Why would God use a corrupt nation to judge another?  How could such methods be just or righteous at all?

But Habakkuk was a wise man.  He knew no matter how things appeared to him, God was still God and in control.  God remained righteous, just, loving, merciful, and true.  Though confused and without answers, the prophet sought God's answer.  Like a watchman who carefully scanned the horizon, Habakkuk looked to God to correct his faulty perspective.  Habakkuk 2:1-4 reads, "I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected. ² Then the LORD answered me and said: "Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. ³ For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. ⁴ "Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith."  Habakkuk realised it was not God who needed to be corrected, but he needed God to correct him.  God's plan hadn't changed, and God gave Habakkuk a charge to clearly write the vision and make it plain.  God would surely bring it to pass.  "The just shall live by his faith," God said.  Babylon would someday be judged in righteousness, but God would use them as His servants to chasten His people to repentance.

Sometimes God allows situations we cannot understand to accomplish His purposes.  At times we may look back and see the wisdom of God's ways, but other times we are at a loss.  Wisdom is not found in man being able to explain how and why, but in us willingly receiving correction from God and walking in obedience.  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, but fools hate correction.  Habakkuk was challenged to walk in faith even as all men are.  Will we trust God despite the apparent injustice?  Will we continue to faithfully follow Christ despite difficulty, pain, and obstacles?  The wise actually seek correction from God and do not despise His chastening.  He disciplines us out of love and compassion for our good and restoration, not our destruction.  Even when Jerusalem was sacked and the temple destroyed, God remained good.  He did not leave or forsake His people, and He will not forsake us either!

Fighting Fire with Fire?

Have you heard of the term, "Fighting fire with fire?"  To prevent massive fires, small controlled burns are utilised by fire fighters to protect areas potentially at risk.  Burning brush removes the fuel source which could allow a fire to rapidly grow out of control and spread into inhabited areas.  "Back burning" is commonly done in preparation for fire season to reduce risk of damage to property.  Inaccessible areas abound in Australia, and back burning in controlled areas help wildfire prevention and limit resulting devastation.

Fighting fire with fire is one way to prevent massive fires, but it doesn't ensure success.  Sometimes even after starting a back-burn in ideal conditions with professionals and equipment on hand, things can flare out of control.  An intended preventative measure can spiral into a complete disaster.  Today I thought about how Christians can try to fight the flesh with the flesh.  It is common to use external methods in an attempt to control what we say and do.  Facing a sinful temptation?  Ride a bike, go for a jog!  This way of dealing with temptation is sorely limited.  There is no way to possibly remove all the fuel from the fires of sinful passion which threaten to consume our hearts and minds.  Removal of temptation does nothing to change the deceitful condition of our hearts.  The only way to truly overcome the flesh is through walking in the Spirit.

In the movie "The Fellowship of the Ring," Gandalf revealed to Frodo that the ring of power wanted to be discovered by its master:  the wicked lord Sauron.  Frodo throughout the film and the two following films became more and more controlled by the power of the ring.  Though he realised placing the ring on his finger was a great danger, Frodo at times brought the ring from his hiding place close to his heart, stroked the ring and stared at it instead of sleeping, and grew possessive and defensive about his habits.  The ring wanted to be found, and by the end it was the ring that controlled Frodo.  Had not Gollum intervened, the ring would have led to Frodo's certain demise.  The same is true spiritually about the flesh we live in.  Our flesh wants to be dominated by sin.  It wants to be ruled by idols, addictions, vain pursuits, excitement, and fun.  Paul said in his flesh dwelt no good thing.  What that means for us is because of our sinful nature, we have a propensity to take perfectly good things and distort them into great evils which threaten our souls.

Paul wrote to the Galatian Christians in Galatians 5:16:  "I say then: walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."  When we have the ability to remove temptations to sin from our lives, we are wise to do this.  Yet even the removal of outward temptation or opportunity does not solve the issue of the sin which resides in our flesh.  There are seasons for back-burning in our hearts and lives, for fuel can accumulate which threatens our spiritual vitality and closeness to God.  We can adopt habits and practices which should be culled.  But the victory over all temptation is found through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, whose shed blood cleanses us from all sin.  The Christian life is not one primarily of sin avoidance or resistance, but a lifestyle of righteousness through the power of the indwelling Spirit.  It is a practical, positive life of intentionally living for the glory of God.  1 Corinthians 15:57-58 says, "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

Sold and Sent

"And Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come near to me." So they came near. Then he said: "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵ But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life."

Genesis 45:4-5

How good it is that God is in control, even when it may seem everything is crashing down around us!  God has the power and ability to redeem and restore, accomplishing His divine purposes no matter how sinister the schemes of our enemies.  After Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, he bore no hatred towards them.  He did not seek revenge, for he understood God was in control.  He did not even mourn being sold into slavery or being thrown into prison.  I would think most people would be grieved or angry to have such things happen to them, yet Joseph begged his brothers - those personally responsible for selling him into slavery - not to be grieved or angry.  He was not grieved or angry!  They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good!

Joseph did not see himself as a victim of a terrible crime, though he was.  Because he recognised God's ultimate control, he viewed himself as purposely sent by God to preserve life.  Through eyes of faith Joseph processed and acknowledged without conflict (perhaps not immediately!) his brothers had sold him into slavery, but God had sent him to Egypt to save lives.  What an unorthodox way to be sent somewhere by God!  When we are angry and grieved over what has happened to us, it can be because we are not convinced God is in control and He remains good - despite terrible circumstances and pains we may experience.  God worked in mysterious ways and revealed His intricate plan years later in a way Joseph understood and used to comfort and encourage others.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 reads, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ."  No matter what tribulation you have endured, there is abundant consolation in Jesus Christ.  The greater our suffering, the greater our comforts.  Joseph received the comfort from God in the midst of a cruel trial, and the result was he was able to offer consolation to others for their guilt.  As a man with supreme power in Egypt Joseph could have taunted his brothers and commanded them, "Get away from me!"  Instead he pleaded with them to draw near and not to be grieved or angry about the things they had done.  This was a man who had forgiven those who had wronged him years before they even saw each other again.  Joseph received God's consolation by grace, and freely offered it to those who had hurt him.

Do you want to be free of anger and grief over prior wrongs done to you?  Recognise that God is on the throne and He is always good.  There is great evil, pain, and horrors in this world filled with sin.  Yet God is able to take even the most dastardly schemes of wicked men and Satan and redeem them for good.  The things which are evil God has the power to redeem and provide comfort and consolation for us so we might offer comfort to others!  Praise God for His redemptive power, love, and grace!