Victory in Jesus

After the football season, two High School football players were talking. The offensive lineman said to the defensive lineman, “I hated you during practice. You used to hit so hard, I used to go home with bruises all over my body. But when we played games, I was so glad that you were on our side.”

What I heard the offensive player saying is that whether it was practice or a game, the intensity and the passion of the defensive player was the same on the field all the time. However, the offensive lineman had mixed feelings about the defensive player.

This is the way I feel about Jesus. His questions, His expectations, and His demands hit me hard. He bruises my ego; He levels my arrogance, and my uniform of self-righteousness is torn and soiled from being cast down so many times. At times I feel like He’s punishing me and sometimes I hate Him for exposing my weaknesses, inadequacies, and vulnerabilities. However, I am grateful, in the fact, that Jesus never wavers—He is constant, consistent, and passionate about the Father’s game plan. I also know that He is really preparing me to be a better equipped player in the game of life and I take extreme pleasure in knowing that being with Him is being on the winning side (Romans 8:37, John 16:33). Don’t you just love Him for that?