Buckeye Quarterbacks: Next Man Up

1 Corinthians 15:35-49

(This is the 2nd of two devotionals on this passage.)

 

 

In the late summer of 2014 there was great anticipation in the Buckeye Nation. Braxton Miller, the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year the previous two years, would be returning from his shoulder injury. Urban Meyer, the Buckeyes rock star head coach, had lost only 2 games in the previous two years. Expectations for a national championship were rampant.

 

Suddenly though the bottom fell out. Only a few days before the first game, Braxton Miller reinjured his shoulder and would require surgery. All seemed lost. Hopelessness set in. What would the Buckeyes do? They had two backup quarterbacks that had very little game experience.

 

Any self-respecting Buckeye fan, or in my case, someone who happens to live in

Columbus, knows what happened. It was the next man up. J.T. Barrett took over as starting quarterback and had a record setting season. In fact, by the end of the regular season he had the Buckeyes in contention for the Big 10 championship.

 

But again, the unexpected happened. This time Barrett was injured during the Michigan game and would require surgery. All hope was now beyond lost. There was no way the Buckeyes could overcome such an insurmountable obstacle at this late stage of the season. But again it was next man up as Cardale Jones took over and led the Buckeyes to their first national championship since 2002.

 

In 2014, the hope of the Buckeye Nation had shifted from Braxton to J.T. to Cardale – the next man up. If one man was injured another took his place, almost like they were interchangeable. Going into 2015, nobody knows who will be the next man up; not even Urban Meyer.

 

As believers though, we know who will be the next man up. He’s the same man who has been there for us all along. In today’s passage, Paul wrote about our hope in Jesus for resurrection that will never need to shift. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is the resurrection. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Jesus is not interchangeable.

 

When the time comes, he will be there to meet us and to bring us home.

 

 

 

 

If you're not Moving Forward, You're going Backwards

Nehemiah 9:32-38

 

Football coaches say stuff like this all the time. This mantra seems to be ingrained into them as they push their players to become better by continually improving. Urban Meyer was recently quoted as saying, “That’s my job – to push”.

 

Leading up to today’s passage, the Levites recounted how God had been faithful to the Hebrews over the centuries. He was always with them and never let them down. However, with all that the Living God did for them, the Israelites were constantly rebelling. They were as consistently inconsistent as God was consistently faithful.

 

Verse 33 says, “In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous; you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly”. Recognizing this, they made yet another promise to God to be faithful to Him.

 

Does that sound familiar to you? It does to me. There have been so many times in my life when I told God, “I’m never going to do that again”, only to turn around and do it again – not just once but over and over. What is it about human nature that does that? More importantly, what can we do to counteract it?

 

In Celebrate Recovery (a Christian twelve-step program at UALC), everyone is encouraged to have a sponsor and/or an accountability partner. That person is there to help push you to improve. But pride keeps us isolated and thinking, “I can do this. I don’t need anyone else”. But we do need others because we can’t change on our own.

 

“Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed”.            James 5:16

 

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”  Galatians 6:2

 

“See to it brothers and sisters that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the Living God, but encourage one another daily so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”             Hebrews 3:12-13

 

God is faithful. He is always with us. But we need someone to push us; to hold us accountable. A coach who will push us to be the best that we can be; to grow in our faith; to move us forward towards, and not go backwards from, our Lord Jesus.