Victory is Ours

Philippians 3:10-14

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%203%3A10-14&version=NIV;NLT

 

Tom Brady is the starting quarterback for the New England Patriots. Last Sunday, the Patriots defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars making them eligible to play in the Super Bowl. It’s not so amazing that the Patriots won, but how they won.

 

At the ripe old football age of 40, and with an injured right hand (his throwing hand), Brady lead his team to victory by overcoming a double digit deficit with less than three minutes left in the game. No matter what adversity he faced, he kept his focus, and his team’s focus, on attaining their goal.

 

Paul had the same mindset for himself and for the Philippians.

 

¹⁰ I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead… ¹³ I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.      NLT

 

In football, the temptation is to lose sight of the goal; to think about the injured hand, the penalty, the fumble, the double digit deficit or the teammate out with a concussion. The reverse is also true. When you get a lead, there’s a temptation to ease up on the gas pedal; to think you’ve got the game in the bag; to coast.

 

Life is the same way. There is a temptation to either obsess on the problem to the point of being overwhelmed. Or to focus on how good things are and coast. Either way, you lose sight of the goal.

 

Paul was a fighter. Here’s what he wrote to Timothy, his son in the faith.

 

⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.    2 Timothy 4:7-8 NIV

 

How do you respond to problems and blessings? Are you a fighter? Do you keep your eyes on the goal? Victory is ours, if we only take hold of it.

 

 

Eat Your Peas

Galatians 3:13-14

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%203%3A13-14&version=NIV;NLT

 

Do you remember the old metal kitchen table from the fifties with metal legs? Starting as a little girl, my wife would dump her peas inside one of the table legs when her Mom wasn’t looking. It wasn’t until they moved before her senior year of high school that her Dad found the cache of hardened peas.

 

My wife hates vegetables! And her parents were very strict about finishing her

vegetables before she could leave the table. The rest of the family would be done and gone for hours, while poor Little Debbie sat alone at the table playing with her cold, stale vegetables.

 

Into her punishment, walked Bubba, her Big Brother. Oftentimes, he would sneak into the kitchen, grab a handful of veggies off Debbie’s plate and quickly pitch them into the trash. On occasion, he would even force the cold stale food down his own throat. In a sense, taking her punishment on himself.

 

That’s what Jesus did for you and me. He took all of our sinful thoughts, words, actions and desires; all the things that would nail us to the cross. He took them as his own so that we wouldn’t have to suffer.

 

¹³ But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”        NLT

 

For my wife, as a little girl, Bubba took her punishment away allowing her to leave the dinner table. For us, Jesus is the only one who can take our punishment away. And what is the result of his sacrifice?

 

Paul wrote in Romans 8, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”

 

The peas are gone in our life. There is no sin from the past, present or future counted against us. We are free to live without judgement; without condemnation; without shame. All of this because of Jesus.

 

(Here's a link for a You Tube video that I by chance came upon that fits this topic. You might enjoy it.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNkgTMa8Vis

 

 

 

 

 

Your Life as a House

Romans 8:15-27

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%208%3A15-27&version=NIV;NLT

 

Have you ever watched the HGTV hit show, “Fixer Upper” with Chip and Joanna Gaines? The show takes place in Waco, Texas where Chip and Joanna run a remodeling and design business. In each episode, they take an old, “fixer upper” house, invest time and money and make it into a beautiful home.

 

About twelve years ago I tried my hand at flipping a few houses. The last one we did was built in 1925. Unfortunately, it had suffered over the years from a severe lack of maintenance, abuse of the owners and finally a devastating fire.

 

As we got into it, we discovered even more problems which included termite and structural damage. I’m sure that when she was first built she was a beauty. But by the time we bought her, she was a mess. She had endured a painful existence.

 

Our daughter and son-in-law were going to buy the house so they invested their own sweat equity along with ours and a crew of skilled contractors. Here are some before, during and after pictures to give you an idea of the process.

 

Before

 

 

During

After

 

If the house could have talked, she might have said how painful it was to be neglected and abused all those years. The possibility that she might be able to return to her original glory was unthinkable with the previous owners. But as we began the remodeling she must have felt a spark of hope.

 

 

In some ways, we’re like that house. We’ve suffered from a lack of maintenance, from abuse and maybe even a devastating life event. But there is hope. There is hope to rebuild our life; to return to our original glory. And that hope comes solely from Jesus Christ.

 

¹⁷ And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. ¹⁸ Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.  NLT

 

Through his Spirit, God gives us the inheritance to experience his Glory, as a foretaste now, but fully later. Your life as a house does have hope.

 

 

 

(If God has spoken to you through this blog, please feel free to share the link with others.)

http://lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com/

 

 

A Christmas Baby

(This is the 4^th of a 4 part series on “Memories of Christmas”.)

John 1:1-14

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%201%3A1-14&version=NIV;NLT

 

 

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.         NIV

 

The Christmas story is so familiar that there’s a tendency to become immune to the amazing, miraculous story of the birth of Jesus; of the word made flesh. A tendency to be untouched by the truth of it all.

 

For many, Christmas is built on traditions. Within those traditions, there are many variations. For instance, do you put a star or an angel on the top of your tree? Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas day? Do you serve ham or turkey for Christmas dinner?

 

In addition, from about Thanksgiving until Christmas, and even the days following, when you fight the crowds returning gifts, your schedule can be very hectic. There’s office parties, church activities, family gatherings, buying gifts, wrapping gifts, getting a picture of your kids with Santa and so on.

 

Between the hectic pace, the commercialism and the routine, it’s easy to lose track of the reason for the season. So, how do you keep Christ in Christmas? What can you do next year to not lose track of what Christmas is truly about?

 

On a couple of occasions, our family attended some unique Christmas programs that

helped me to keep my focus. One such program was The Living Christmas Tree. Produced by a large local church, their choir would sing while standing on a 30 foot man-made Christmas tree. The program was complete with live animals and a real live baby Jesus.

 

Another program that we attended was called the Road to Bethlehem. There were various stations throughout the church with shepherds, wise men and Roman soldiers that lead up to the stable where Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus were. I still remember the baby crying when we entered the room. It was a real life reminder that Jesus was a baby just like this one.

 

Sometimes though, everyday life can remind us of the reality of Christmas. On December 14, my third grandchild was born - Josephine. She sat in her Mommy’s tummy for nine months until the time was right. Now she’s a beautiful baby girl that cries, eats and needs clean diapers.

 

Jesus was the same way. He sat in his Mommy’s tummy for nine months and then was born. But before that, He was the Word of God. And the word of God was made flesh at just the right time.

 

 

 

 

(If God has spoken to you through this blog, please feel free to share the link with others on social media.)

http://lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com/