Not this weekend, but last weekend, my Nebraska Corn Huskers lost. And they did not just loose a little bit, they lost in a huge and devastating fashion. I got to thinking about the things that lead to such a horrible loss.
Two things really did them in above all the other minutia of the game. The opposing team scored right away, quick and hard and overwhelmed their will to fight. The other thing was that Nebraska kept giving the other team the ball through fumbles and interceptions. In other words, they kept shooting themselves in the foot. And then the Lord spoke to me.
While I was contemplating the this loss, and some of my own struggles with sin and failure, the Lord spoke to me an object lesson using this football game.
The enemy hates those of us who call Jesus Christ Lord, and who attempt, (all be it feebly at times) to live a life set apart for God. With that hate he tries to either destroy us or cripple us to a point where we are no longer a threat to his evil plans. To do this he will try many things, but among other things he will hit us hard with an attack, a temptation or “problem”. If we are not on our guard, this can have the effect of crippling us to a point were we stop fighting and just let him keep hitting us, just like my Corn Huskers kept letting the opposing team make touch down after touch down.
The other way we fail is that we shoot ourselves in the foot. We do things that seem like innocent little compromises which end up opening us up to a big attack from the enemy of our soul. We keep handing the ball back to the enemy. It might take the form of having the second piece of cake when we know we should not, or taking a second glance at the pretty woman walking down the street. Either way, we know we shouldn’t. It’s not that either these examples are sins in and of themselves, but I know for me, they can lead to sin. We all know what our weaknesses are, those things that will cause us to take the next step, after which leads us into sin and failure. The enemy knows this too and delights in making sure we have ample opportunity to fail.
The point I feel that the Lord was trying to make to me, and indeed all of us, is that we must be on our guard at all times. This is much more important than a football game, and the stakes are much higher. We must train ourselves to be on our guard and be ready to hit the enemy back immediately when he strikes, or else apathy and defeatism settles in and we can barely breathe, much less repulse his attack. We must also discipline ourselves to guard against those things we know will trip us up.
By ourselves, all this is impossible, but with God anything is impossible. He is also merciful and just. And thought I fail a thousand times, still he hears me, forgives me and saves me. To God be the Glory of all I will become.
We made it!
3 years ago
