ON GOD AND THE BIG GAME
I hope you are all enjoying the interminable 2 weeks before the Super Bowl! Aren’t they just awesome! No they are not. So maybe each day we’ll look at some of the goofier Super Bowl Stories and have a laugh to quell the lameness of this fortnight. Make sure you send me anything you find, mm-kay? Now…
I know what some of are you are thinking entering this particular Super Bowl run-up: enough about athletes and God. We just finished hearing all about Tim Tebow during the BCS title game. And now Kurt Warner is back in the Super Bowl.
But players like Kurt Warner and Tim Tebow shouldn’t be chastised because of their faith. Neither of them ask for a microphone to share their beliefs; reporters come to them for sound. And no player from the postgame prayer huddle says, “Hey, c’mon and get a camera over here–We’re about to pray!”. The camera follows them. And these guys would just as well praise God when they lose as well as when they win. They are simply being themselves.
So before you get too annoyed with all of it consider those things. Also consider that they would likely be just as content if no one ever interviewed them again. And really, aren’t their stories preferred to those of beaten spouses, gun play, drugs, banned substances, cheating coaches, late night arrests and all the other dreggy, seedy happenings from the world of sports that we read about on a daily basis? Can I get a witness?
Now to the big question: Does God care who wins the big game? Any game? Hit the jump for more
As a Christian I am explaining this from my perspective. The answer is perhaps. What you need to know is that God is not some genie granting wishes. There is no prayer cookbook. There is no ‘pray this amount of times or these prayers and you’ll receive this’. It doesn’t work that way. At all.
God might care who wins a game–if it has a part in His plan.
Tony Foeller, Pastor of Anna First church in Illinois: “I believe that God might care a great deal who wins or loses. If a Christian athlete can (in his post-game interview) bring God greater glory in defeat than he might in victory, I can see where God would have a great interest in which team wins. I don’t think the venue matters much to God…be it a sanctuary or a stadium.”
So God isn’t likely to say “Go Steelers!”. It’s more about how He uses people to accomplish His plan. This is seen all throughout the Bible.
So what about praying to win the game? Praying to have a good game? A good season? If you are a person that prays, do you not pray for success in your line of work, whatever it may be? I know I have. Is the athlete really any different?
[tags]Christian athletes, Kurt Warner, Tim Tebow, Super Bowl, Arizona Cardinals[/tags]
