Happy Monday!
I’m a huge 49er football fan. Yea, I know. They lost the Super Bowl last week. Yet a couple of weeks earlier I called my brother right before the 49er-Green Bay game to say Go 49ers. We hung up quickly knowing we’d talk after the game. It was a tense game but with about seven minutes left to play, the 49ers score, putting them ahead for the first time. Green Bay now had the ball and I’m really nervous. The phone rings. Why is Jeff calling me NOW?
“Well I would have liked it not be so close but…” I cut in saying “Yea, well, I’ll feel a lot better when they score another touchdown.” As if I were on some other planet, he asks, “What game are you watching? We won!”
Huh? Ah. I’d forgotten that I’d paused my DVR for a few minutes. I hadn’t been watching the game in real time so for me the game wasn’t over yet.
“You don’t have to score another touchdown after you win.”
Jeff’s quip reminds me of Paul’s more serious exhortation to the church at Galatia. “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?… Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?” (Galatians 3:1,3) It seems they had forgotten the freedom provided by Jesus Christ and were trying to add “extras” to the simplicity of the Gospel message. “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9).
No wonder Paul called them foolish. It’s as if they thought it necessary to continue to score touchdowns on a game already won!
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)
As this new week begins, I want to take these words to heart. Just relax. Love God, love people. Be free.
Gayle, this really made me smile. And *I* didn’t even know WHO was playing the Superbowl…….either team. Honestly! I’ve never known. (And I dare you to write a devo about that). But this is a great post with a good lesson. And I had forgotten all about that verse in Galatians, which is so powerfully juxtaposed against Mt. 11:28-30…..about Jesus’ easy, light yoke. It’s been my prayer lately that this is the yoke–HIS–which I’d take upon me. It only makes sense that the opposite of freedom is slavery. Thanks again for your insights, and still love me though I don’t love football OR coffee! =]
Lynni
Isn’t that just like our fallen nature; add rules to what is perfect so we can grasp it with our senses which is infinitely less gratifying than our soul, but far easier to use. People of a weaker faith use rules… Thanks for the reminder.
I’m still a bit perturbed of the no pass interference call at the end of the game… Unreal…
Thanks for your insight, Floyd. 49ers will get ’em next year.