When You Think It’s Too Late, Go Win One For Jesus!
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(12) Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (13) In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you (14) to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, (15a) which God will bring about in his own time…‘ (1 Timothy 6:12-15a)
In a world of darkness and evil, it is easy for us to become overwhelmed and defeated. Some may state, ‘where is God?’, as our streets turn red with the blood of victims, our communities blighted by destruction and neglect, and our society immersed in debauchery, lust, and greed. It can look like all is lost, that there is no hope of recovery or a comeback of anything good, when the news is so deflating.
I did a ‘Word-of-the-Day’ awhile back about George Gipp, the football star from Notre Dame who ended up dying with pneumonia in 1920, and immortalized by his coach Knute Rockne years later in 1928, in a game that Notre Dame was terribly mismatched and losing at halftime against the undefeated powerhouse Army team.
As the players expected coach Rockne to tear into them, they instead got a calm and somewhat melancholy recount of Gipp, on his deathbed, telling his legendary coach that ‘when the team is up against it, when things are wrong and the breaks are beating the boys, ask them to go in there with all they’ve got and win just one for the Gipper.’ The speech ended at that point, and it is alleged that Rockne left the locker room for his team to absorb his words. They did with vigor, as the men of Notre Dame went out in 2nd half with renewed determination and dominated the second half of the contest, upsetting Army 12-6.
It is considered a true story, and I don’t doubt its accuracy. It is also a great illustration that with the right motivation and the right encouragement, there are no ‘unwinnable’ situations. In terms of our society today, it may seem like all is lost, that there can be no recovery from the depths that we as a nation and a world have fallen into. If we look at our situation with our eyes, it does look like all is lost.
But sometimes what we need is a calm and somewhat melancholy reminder that ‘when things are wrong and the breaks are beating the boys, ask them to go in there with all they’ve got and win just one for Jesus’. Paul in writing his first epistle to Timothy, his prot?g?, tells him in the ‘second half’ of his letter (1 Timothy 6:11-21) to ‘fight the good fight of the Faith’in Jesus. It is a pep talk reminding Timothy why he serves the Lord, not to give up but to speak the Truth to everyone, including the wealthy of the world he encounters to give up the pursuit of wealth for the unlimited bounty found in Christ.
If we all realize that not only is all not lost, but that we have more determination and vigor than the evil that is around us. Individually we can overtake the evil in our own small circle of influence, and together with others in Faith those small circles can overlap and interconnect, overcoming the intentions of evil with the Gospel news of Jesus and His impending return to defeat evil once and for all.
Don’t get down, and turn that frown upside down with the Joy of knowing God is still in control, that He is still where He always has been, on His throne overseeing His Creation. He is on our side as long as we our on His; be strong, courageous and determined to share the Gospel message with others, to speak and hold steadfast to the Truth, which Jesus tells us that ‘you will know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free’ (John 8:32) if we are truly his disciples by holding onto and learning what He has taught us (John 8:31). Go out, obey the Great Commission and ‘win one for Jesus’!
