Today’s Scripture Reading (September
18, 2013): 1 Chronicles 17
We are a
little schizophrenic with our sports teams. For the last forty years I have
been a fan of the Detroit Lions and the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL. They are
my teams. When I first started cheering for the teams they actually played in
different conferences so my dream was that someday Detroit would meet Seattle
in the Superbowl and I would just sit and scream out my support for my teams. But
a few year ago the Seahawks moved from the American Conference to the National
Conference, destroying a decades long rivalry with the Denver Broncos (I am not
bitter), and now both of my teams play in the same conference. And for years I
have felt alone. Especially with the struggles of the Detroit Lions, there just
have not been many fans of these teams. They were bums, they were that team.
When fans spoke of them, it was Detroit or Seattle lost again – the word lacked
identification - they lost.
This year
things have changed. Both of the teams are playing better football. Seattle is
predicted to possibly be able to fight their way through to win the National
Conference and represent that conference in the Super Bowl. And expectations
are high in Detroit as well (although my Superbowl dream is impossible – maybe
it can come through in the Conference Championship game.) And the language of
the fans has changed. It is no longer about them – it is about us. We are going
to win this weekend. Or we got ripped off by that call at the end of the game
and the win slipped away and became a loss. But every victory and every painful
setback is no longer happening to them – it is happening to us. We laugh and we
cry because we are the ones that identify with what is happening on the field.
One of the
most unbelievable truths is that God is a fan of us. He is cheering us on. And
sometimes we take that unbelievable commitment of God and we change it. We
somehow come to believe that God Is our fan and identifies with us only when we
are doing well, but not so much when we are blowing it – because that is
exactly the behavior that is natural for us when we are cheering on our
favorite teams. But that is not God. God says, I have chosen you – forever. In
the opening lines of the Bible God calls the whole world his. At the tower of
Babel, God started to follow the nation of Israel and he called them his. But
the entire Bible tells a story that can only come to a close with the day of
the Messiah, the day when God gets to call the entire world his once again.
That day has
come, and once again the entire world is his. And this creative God is cheering
us on – through both the good times and the bad. We are his forever.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1
Chronicles 18
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