Pressing On Toward the Goal

     A football fan I am not. Like some women I don't understand what it is that draws men so strongly to this game. They are faithful to watch it to the very end and if there is any chance they might miss it they are sure to record it on their VCRs'. Some will do anything to gets tickets to attend and then still come home and watch the videotape. There is an obsession with this game and although some of us may never understand it I must admit that after watching the game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Washington Redskins I learned a lot. It was a good game but the lessons I walked away with were far more than just the thrill of watching a game.

     There are so many parts of this game I don't understand, especially when a grown man runs right into a group of men bigger than him only to be tackled and bought to the ground. My first thought was why would you ever attempt to do this? You don't seem to get very far and it seems fruitless to me. As I watched this game though I watched the tenacity of the players. It didn't seem to matter to them what was in front of them, all they could see was the goal line and they knew it was there job to get the ball there. I thought to myself, if they are so willing to press through this group of gigantic men to get a ball to the other side than how much more willing should we be to get through all the obstacles of the enemy in our lives. In the football game you could see the size of the enemy, yet they were not stopped. In our lives we can't always see what we are running into yet we keep pressing in and pressing on. We know that with Jesus nothing is impossible and our eyes are on the finish line.

     Paul says in Philippians 3:14

"I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

     These men were pressing toward the goal for the possibility of advancing in the play-off games. They knew only one thing, they had to win and nothing was going to stop them. The beginning of the game was a little boring. No one seemed to be gaining any yardage, as they were unable to press through the defensive line. The game went on and the Redskins took the lead. The crowd had quieted down and the enthusiasm was fading. All of a sudden there was an interception by one of the players and the crowd was yelling and screaming again. It seemed to turn the game around.

he Buck's started playing with fervency and they scored two touchdowns. It looked like it was home free for them. Again there was another pivotal point in the game when it looked like their sweet victory would be robbed from them. The Redskins had the chance for a field goal with only a minute and some seconds left in the game. They thought they would walk away with the victory and you could hear the crowd quieting down again. All hope seemed to be lost because no matter how you looked at it the field goal would score the winning points for Washington. It was time for the kick and they missed it. What a surprise it was for me. I couldn't believe it. There didn't seem to be any obvious reason at least not to me. (Maybe some of you men out there understood it) The crowd roared, the clock was ticking down and the fact that Tampa Bay was going to win this game became very evident. Just two quarters before they had lost hope, the interception in the third quarter stirred them up only to bring them back to a hopeless situation again in the fourth quarter. When that hopeless situation turned around victory became very sweet for Tampa Bay. It was pretty amazing to watch.

     I watched their determination to run into a bunch of guys bigger than themselves, I watched a player catch a ball that was meant for someone else, I watched their offense run one way and then another to score a touchdown. They seemed to be unstoppable. Why? Because of the interception, it turned the whole game around and they didn't give up after that. The field goal being missed, I believe that was grace, amazing grace. It shouldn't have happened but it did right in the final minutes of the game.

      Paul tells us again in 2 Timothy 4:7

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

     We are in a race, we are pressing toward the mark of the high calling of Christ Jesus. Yes, obstacles come in our way and they look as big as the defense lineman and we don't always know how to press through. But we have the best runner of all carrying the ball for us. His name is Jesus Christ and He is not afraid of the enemy. He is the one who intercepted the ball for us. He is the One who turned the game around for us. We were losing, we were without faith, and we thought it was hopeless. But Jesus stepped in and caught the ball for us. He grabbed it in His arms on the cross and He took it all the way home to the finish line. He has the victory and as sweet as the victory was for Tampa Bay the victory for us is so much sweeter. Sometimes we have to hold on to that ball for dear life. We can't break through all the defense mechanisms of the enemy but we know the One who can. We can't quite make it over the finish line but with His grace and power we can focus on where we are going and He will bring us over that line in His perfect timing.

     Sometimes it looks just like it did at the end of the game. It looks like the opposing team will win; it looks like nothing can stop the enemy from advancing ahead of us but Jesus steps in and does what is impossible. He causes the enemy to miss the kick and we get to walk away in sweet victory. I watched this game with my husband, my husband that I have been away from for over seven years. It was a momentous game for Tampa Bay but it was an even sweeter victory for me to know that Jesus is the restorer of lives and that for us to be sitting together watching this game was nothing short of a miracle.

God is faithful and He will be with us as we fight the good fight of faith and hold on to the One who is carrying the ball for us. Let Him be that One for you. Let Him intercept all the arrows the enemy has meant for you. Let Him be the One to bring victory in the last moments when all seems impossible. He is able and He is willing, all we have to do is pass the ball to Him.

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