God Doesn't Give Up

I am ashamed to admit that I didn't see the amazing comeback by my favorite team Saturday night. The Huskies were down by 12 with about four and a half minutes to go and they came back to win in dramatic fashion. Some of you that know me would assume that I must have been gone, had other obligations to deal with, after all, that is the only reason I ever miss a Husky game. Nope! Where was I? I was in bed. I had given up with about nine and half minutes to go with the Huskies down by 9 and Arizona driving for more points. I was too frustrated, angry even, to keep watching my team mess up. I just couldn't handle any more mistakes, any more deficiencies. Now in my defense, I mostly left because I didn't want to say anything stupid in front of my son, nor did I want to throw anything at my television, but I also doubted my team's ability to come back. I did check on the game once after I gave up, it was when our linebacker made the "immaculate interception" and ran it back for a TD giving us the lead. Surely I kept watching after that. Nope! I figured no additional good could happen (we already had the lead) but lots of bad could still happen. So, I turned off the TV and proceeded to hear my wife and my son cheer as the defense held and the Huskies won. They got to see a great comeback, they got to experience the joy that came after so much frustration, even despair. I just got to hear about it, to watch the highlights and later the last 9 minutes that I had walked out on. I gave up!

There are so many lessons that can be pulled from this story, but, the one that I have been thinking about the last couple of days is how glad I am that God is not like me. God does not give up on us. For an example of this, read the parable of the Lost Son in Luke 15:11-31. Now obviously this passage in Luke is about far more than a football team but I think we can all think of other things in our life where we have given up on someone or something. But God is not like that. If anyone has a reason to give up it would be God, right? I mean, He created us and we are constantly turning our back on Him. God has given us so much, yet, we squander it, ignore it, don't think it is enough, etc. Even though we do all of those things, God always wants us, He is always there for us, God does not give up on us. Please don't use this as justification for doing your own thing - "I can just do whatever I want and then come to God later because He always takes us back". Instead, let this encourage you to come to God NOW, seek forgiveness for all the times you have messed up, recognize that you need Him and let Him lead your life. God doesn't give up on you!