God in my Corner

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Romans 8:28

In 2015 I worked for a head football coach who was very much a community guy, and he did a great job of making the small-town football team feel like a part of the small town. The town, in general, was your standard Southern Baptist town, so there was an expectation that the football team would have at least some component affiliated with faith. In that spirit, the pre-game meal was preceded by the pregame devotion, and what made this coach different is that he wanted his assistant coaches to deliver those theological devotions. This was something I took great joy in, so while all coaches had to do at least one, I volunteered whenever I had the opportunity.

On one such occasion, I walked in and wrote the entirety of John 3:16 on the board, and then wrote “What is love?” beneath it. When the players filed in and took their seats, they all read and considered the question. I stood in front of the group and said, “I love all of you. Hopefully, you know that. Hopefully, I’ve told you that directly. If not, guess what? I love you guys.”

I walked around, making eye contact with each of them, “Now clearly, I love some of you more than others. That’s probably not polite to say, but I try to be as honest as I can. I’m the line coach, so I love my big guys. Sorry, receivers. And among my big guys, I shouldn’t play favorites, but clearly, I do. It’s Cade. I love Cade more than all of you. Sorry.”

Cade Rodgers was my back-up center, but he was more than that. He knew every assignment for every line position, so in theory, he was my back-up for every position. He followed me around on the sidelines every game, gave me insight into how every player was doing and what he saw from the defense. He was funny, and humble, and a joy to coach. And in this moment, he was the butt of my impending joke.

“I love you too, Coach,” Cade yelled, and everyone chuckled.

I detailed all the reasons I loved Cade, from his hard work to his leadership skills to his sense of humor. I told him I could only hope my kids would turn out like him someday. And then I pulled out my phone, and I opened up a picture of my twins, newborns at this time. Maybe ten months old, definitely the most important two things in my life. I showed the picture around the room.

“So, I love Cade. These are my boys, Lucas and Logan. They’re my first kids, they’re pretty new to me, and I love them. It should go without saying that I love them more than I love Cade. That’s not an outlandish thing to say, is it? But how much more? Can you quantify it? Probably not, but I can describe. You see, if a shooter walked into this room and aimed a gun at any one of you, I would jump in the line of that shot. For Cade, and for most of y’all. I would give my life for you. That isn't an exaggeration. I care about y’all, love y’all more, than I care about my own life. That’s how much I love you.”

“But these boys? I would let Cade get hit by a bus and then watch him get stomped on by the marching band in the Thanksgiving Day parade before I would let one of my boys take a scratch on the knee.”

Everybody laughed, even Cade. I doubled-down, “I would give my life for Cade, but I would watch him die horribly if it meant protecting my twins from even the slightest of harms. I would die a thousand deaths to protect my children, but maybe just one to protect Cade. Is that a judgment on how little I love Cade? Not at all. This is a statement on how much I love my sons. That’s a relationship I will fight every day to rebuild and strengthen, because that’s the way a father should love his children.”

“And yet, John 3:16 offers us something different. It states that God had a son, that He let His Son come down to Earth, walk amongst us, live amongst us. And when the time came that Jesus was needed most, God would let His Son die. Because He loved us. What I’m willing to do to protect Cade compared to what I would do to protect my sons tells you exactly what I feel about my children. What a father should feel about his children. But this is how God shows us He loves us. This verse, which is more or less the backbone, the blueprint, of our faith, doesn’t just summarize what God did; it also teaches us what love is.”

“Love is sacrifice.”

I finished the sermon as a good coach would, asking how much they love their fellow players (how much are you willing to sacrifice on the field for them?), how much they love their parents (how much are you willing to sacrifice to honor them?), and how much do they love themselves (what fun are you willing to give up on for good grades and a successful future?). But the lesson they learned was simple: if you love me, sacrifice for me. God loved you so much that He gave the ultimate sacrifice, something that I couldn’t even fathom looking at my own two boys. So how much do you love this team? Show me. Show me what you’re willing to sacrifice for us for everyone to be winners.

Chapter 8 in Romans deals with the ramifications of that sacrifice that Jesus, that God, made for us that fateful day. We are all afflicted by the “laws of sin and death”, but it is through “the Law of the Spirit who gives life” that we are set free from these afflictions (Romans 8:2). Sin and death were a sickness that, despite great effort, we couldn’t escape; it was only through the sacrifice that was made on our behalf that we are free from this. Chapter 8 details how this is the ultimate display of God’s love for us, whether we deserved it or not. It also details how we can, in turn, express our love and gratitude back to Him.

The first sacrifice we can make is to avoid the sins of the flesh, as it was through the flesh sacrifice of God’s own son that we aren’t condemned by the sin that comes so naturally to us. Verses 5-7 explain why submitting to the desires of the flesh is so bad, “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires,” (Romans 8:5). This makes a great deal of sense. Every Saturday, my day is filled with things that I’ve been wanting to do all week, but my schedule won’t permit. Playing outside with the boys. Cutting my lawn. Watching college football. Tailgating at college football games. Daydreaming about college football. You get the drift. But Sunday morning comes, and my flesh is telling me to take this whole “day of rest” thing seriously, and getting out of bed to go to church becomes increasingly more difficult.

If my goal is to rest and sleep, or my goal is to play video games all day, or if my goal is to go drinking with my friends, then all I am satisfying are those specific goals. But if I am trying to make my wife happy, then my eyes are set on her. I am sacrificing for her. If I’m trying to make life good for my kids, my endgame is them. If I am pouring myself into my work, my football, my hobbies, I am trying to better myself in those areas. Consequently, if my eyes are turned to God, if God is my goal, then my actions should and will reflect that.

The second sacrifice involves those actions. Unfortunately, while death didn’t start in the original design, death became an inescapable certainty because of sin. Even the sacrifice that Jesus gave us won’t prevent that. But what it did do was keep death as only an eventuality of the flesh; sin can and will destroy our bodies, but our eternal lives are spared by the grace of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice by God the Father, and by our adherence to the Holy Spirit we’re connected to, “But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness,” (Romans 8:11). The Holy Spirit rose Christ three days after death took Him, and that is the same Holy Spirit that is in us now if we choose to live by His standards.

As I spoke to the heart of those athletes that eventful gameday, I asked them, “What are you willing to sacrifice to show how much you love your teammates? Are you gonna go harder when your body is weak and telling you to stop? Are you going to fight through the pain? Are you going to sweat and bleed a little harder because you love your friends here and you want them to know how much you appreciate them? Are you willing to give me everything you’ve got for the success of your team, because you love them?”

“The truth is, no matter how much I want to win tonight (and boy, do I want to beat these guys), tonight means very little in the grand scheme of things. Win or lose, tonight is just one night. One game. Jesus is far more concerned with every night after this, more concerned about eternity. Jesus sacrificed Himself, God gave His only Son, so that you will never again have to suffer the weight of sin on your soul. God sacrificed for you to save you from damnation. Don’t you love Him for that? Because He loves you, and He proved it. What are you willing to give up? What sin are you willing to push out of your life because you love God, and you want to show Him? Because God doesn’t ask for much.”

“Just that you love Him. And that you prove it.”

One of the funnier aspects of coaching sports in the south is the pre-game prayer. Some go the traditional “Our Father” route, and others go more in-depth and personal, or a mixture of the two. But the irony of the situation is that in the opposing locker room, the opponents, the enemies, the bad guys— they’re all praying to the same God for the same victory. There has to be a winner and a loser, so the question gets a lot heavier: who does God love more? Is God a Warrior today, or is He a Bulldog? I guess we’ll know in 48 minutes.

But what Romans 8:28 tells us is that God is neither a Warrior, or a Bulldog, or a Hornet, or a Viking, or a Falcon, or any other mascot we cheer on. God is on our side, because He works for the good of those who love Him, those who prove it. And how? None of this is a mystery. God’s Word does a pretty good job of spelling out what the expectations are, how to push sin away, how to lead a life that is pleasing to Him. God made us for the explicit purpose of praising and worshiping Him; all we have to do is lead a life worthy of His love, and to praise Him openly and with abundant joy.

And we get eternal life. (In my best game show host voice) And that’s not all! God “works for the good of those who love” Him. Meaning He is working to make our lives better at all times. Unfortunately, sometimes the whole gameplan isn’t revealed to us at kick-off, and the definition of what is “good” for us might be different than what we think. As a parent, as a coach and a teacher, I know all too well that sometimes what is “good” for a kid might be the last thing they’d ever want. As a prideful man, I know that sometimes what’s “good” for me is a little humility. I’ve stated before that my mother made a lot of mistakes in her life, but I never doubted her love for me, nor did I doubt that all she wanted was to better me and my life and the life of my sister. She always worked for my good. And to know that I have that exact relationship with a powerful, omnipotent creator is all I need in life to be successful. And all I have to do is love Him. And to prove it.

And I know, because He showed me, that love is sacrifice. What am I willing to sacrifice for Him to show Him that I love Him? If all it needs is for me to push sin away from my life, that’s a very simple price to pay to have God in my corner.