A Game of Inches - Pt 1

And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” (1 Samuel 17:33-36 ESV).

Well, I’ve been watching reruns of the 2018 football season. It shouldn’t be any surprise that my favorite game of the year was on November 24th. It was the last SEC football game of the regular season and only decided after seven overtimes and a record number of points scored. With 84 points scored just in the overtime between Texas A&M (then ranked #22) and LSU (then ranked #7), the Aggies earned their first win over the since 1995. The final scored was 74-72. Kendrick Rogers’ catch in the end zone (pictured here) was just one of the incredible plays of that game. I listen to the press conferences and Aggie talk shows a lot during the football season. Coach Fisher is constantly emphasizing “the little things.” He did it again in the post game press conference when he said, “That was a heck of a football team. You say you have to make one more play. That’s what we did. How proud I am of our players. It’s about the players, period. They set a standard for what that Aggie helmet means.” That took me to our reading today. Sure, the long passes to the end zone are exciting. But in between the big plays are a lot of short ones, and those short plays are often decided by a matter of inches. Following Jesus often feels the same way. There are some “next” steps, like graduation, marriage, birth of your first child, or celebrating your fiftieth wedding anniversary that are like the big play that makes it to the highlight reel. But other next steps feel more like first downs. They’re not going to make the highlight reels, but they still move us closer to the goal of being more like Jesus. In the next two days we’re going to look at two fundamental principles that help us gain those “inches.” It’s always the simple things. David got that when King Saul asked him how he thought he could defeat Goliath. He simply said that it wasn’t much different than keeping his father’s sheep safe. If he could kill a lion or a bear, who would this Philistine unbeliever be in the face of a duel with someone who knew the Lord’s strength would be with him? You have that same strength within your life as well!