Hope is here...

This is one of my favorite times of year. The kids are back in school, routine has returned, and life seems somewhat manageable. Fall is approaching so quickly you can smell it in the air and sense it in your bones. Which means we finally have the excuse to do some of our favorite things. That’s right. It’s time to fire up the grill, fill the crock-pot with queso, and go throw the pigskin around. Why? Because football season is here! And that means there’s hope.

Look, I don’t care who your team is. A new season is exciting because there is always a chance that this year might be different. Maybe this year is the year.  Maybe this season we taste the sweetness of victory a little more often. Perhaps we make it to the post-season. What if this is the year that we win it all! Sure the realist inside of you reminds your heart that it has never happened in the history of your team’s existence. But that romantic side… Yeah that part of you which sees the very best in things, well, it longs to experience such joy. It dreams of what this new season might bring.

Right now, each team is the same. No wins, no losses, just an opportunity that lies ahead. And isn’t that what we all want? We love the idea of newness, a blank slate, the beautiful hope of a fresh start.  If we could just have a redo, or maybe be given permission to dream. Football, as trivial as it is, reminds us of a deeper longing. Whether it is through our sports, our children, our jobs, or our hobbies, we vicariously seek little wins where we can find them. The only problem is that we often neglect to see that the fresh start we seek, the real victory we desire, is personally offered to us all.

Did you know that God is a God of second chances…and third and fourth chances? By the way, that truth is just as important to the believer as it is anyone else. He who started a good thing in you is faithful to bring it to completion (Philippians 1:6). He that justifies, sanctifies! He is not only our Creator. He is our Re-Creator so to speak, in the sense that He is ever-changing us – growing us. He is making us new, transforming our hearts, and refining our passions and desires. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) That’s who God is! He is a God of forgiveness and hope and new beginnings.

So what if you blew it last year? You had all kinds of big dreams of how you were going to pray and read scripture with you children and yet, you didn’t. Guess what? It’s a new school year! Oh yeah, school is nearly a good week into session and you’ve already messed up. You’re ashamed to always be so tired, to have such a temper, to so often fail in following through with things. You seem to continue to struggle with the same sins. Guess what? This is a new week, a new day. Yes, God is a God of new hours and minutes.

So what keeps you from starting over? My guess is that your excuse it similar to mine. “I’ll just try harder and do better next time.” While that sounds noble and all, it really shows an ignorance of the gospel. Jesus didn’t die on the cross because we were “good”. He was willingly slaughtered on our behalf because we never could be. Remember, He didn’t come for the healthy, but for the sick (Mark 2:17). Do yourself a favor and don’t wait for next season. Trust Him today, not your ability to right the ship. And do it right now if you have to!

While it’s fun to talk of all the reasons this season could be special – a new QB, a favorable schedule, an intricate defensive scheme. We all know that even if that pinnacle is one day achieved, it can’t touch the fulfillment we truly desire. May we know that truth in our heart and see the magnificence of that which is before us. It’s glorious. It’s all around us, you can even sense it deep within. It’s the precious hope of the gospel and it’s here to stay.