Kathy,
I don't know, anyone with a name like Favre, who can toss out the ABC's and
English language and then in turn get an entire hemisphere or better to
pronounce his name Farve, could do most anything including make touchdowns
count with God *grin*.
Brad
At 08:40 AM 10/11/2007, you wrote:
>Okay, Guys, admittedly, I don't really have a good reason for passing this
>devotional along, except that it talks about somebody that, you know I
>like. Brad, you especially will get a kick out of this, since you
>mentioned these records in a recent posting.
>Blessings,
>Kathy
>
>
>
>
>
>Making Points With God
>by Jon Walker
>
>“For no one can ever be made right in God's sight by doing what his law
>commands. For the more we know God's law, the clearer it becomes that we aren't
>obeying it. But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his
>sight—not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long
>ago.” (Romans 3:20-21 NLT)
>
>Brett Favre, the lion-hearted quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, is
>one of my favorite players in the National Football League. He’s courageous and
>tough-minded, showing a rare grace under pressure, yet his boyish
>enthusiasm for the game is infectious as he celebrates each Packer success.
>
>A couple of Sundays ago (Sept. 30), Brett threw a pass that set a new
>record: the most touchdown passes by an NFL quarterback 421.
>
>Although the Pack was playing in Minnesota, the officials temporarily
>stopped the game in order to honor Brett’s achievement. And Brett, in his
>customary
>humility, later said he was more interested in a team win than an
>individual record.
>
>In surprising contrast, the very next week (Oct. 8) Brett tied another
>record: the most interceptions thrown by an NFL quarterback 277. This
>game also
>was stopped after this record was achieved, but only because the
>interception ended the Packer’s last-second attempt to win the game.
>
>The most touchdown passes and the most interceptions! It reminds me that
>there was a time when Babe Ruth, the baseball player who was one of the
>greatest
>hitters in the game, owned two records simultaneously: the most home runs
>hit in a career as well as the most strike-outs in a career.
>
>Here’s the thing: We tend to think of life as a balance sheet that we’ll
>eventually present to God. As long as the number of our touchdown passes exceed
>the number of our interceptions, then we’re cool with God, right? To echo
>the Apostle Paul, God forbid this to be true!
>
>“For no one can ever be made right in God's sight by doing what his law
>commands. For the more we know God's law, the clearer it becomes that we aren't
>obeying it.” (Romans 3:20 NLT)
>
>In other words, we can never be made right by throwing touchdown passes
>because the more we learn about the Law, the more obvious it is we can
>never throw
>enough touchdown passes to make things right with God.
>
>“But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight—not
>by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago.” (Romans
>3:21 NLT)
>
>In his own geek-Greek way, Paul is saying we should forget the balance
>sheet ignore the scoreboard, give up on tracking good and bad
>statistics. Listen,
>there is good news! There’s another way to get right in God’s sight, and
>it has nothing to do with your own achievements. It’s based on a promise made
>by God long ago a promise is fulfilled through Jesus Christ.
>
>Can I get an amen?
>
>We are saved by grace and not through faith. It is a gift from God, not by
>our own works, so that none of us can boast of the ability to tip the balance
>sheet in our own favor. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
>
>No doubt you’ve heard this over and over again, including many times in
>these devotionals. Yet many of us still live as if we get right in God’s
>sight by
>what we do by our works, our achievements, the records we set.
>
>We do this because it is, as Paul says, an offense to think of the Gospel
>as so simple and, therefore, it becomes a stumbling block to our pride. Getting
>right in God’s sight by what we do appeals to our human pride, or as the
>poet-king James would say, it appeals to our “flesh.”
>
>It makes us feel good, as if we’re doing something to earn our way into
>heaven. If we cling to the idea that we can, even in some small way, contribute
>toward our salvation, then we also can cling to the idea that maybe we’re
>not that bad maybe we aren’t included in the “all” of “all have sinned and
>fall short of God’s glory.”
>
>Put that behind you and get on with the truth: You, my friend, can never
>be made right in God's sight by doing what is right because the closer
>you get
>to God, the more you’ll realize you’re not even close to getting it right
>(see Isaiah 6 and Romans 3:20).
>
>The one thing you can do is to move in loving obedience to your gracious
>heavenly Father, doing and saying whatever he tells you to do and say; allowing
>your life to be energized by God’s Spirit within you.
>
>What now?
>
>· “Balance sheet” fear Good news! You are free to follow the Father
>instead of living in “balance sheet” fear. You can be who you were meant
>to be and
>you can live how you were meant to live. You don’t have to be good enough
> you just have to trust in the redemptive power of Christ’s resurrection from
>the dead. And you don’t have to fear if you hold both the record for most
>touchdown passes and the record for most interceptions love God and live
>accordingly!
>
>· Record of faith A record of your faith in Jesus is more important than
>any record of your wrongs or resume of your achievements. If you haven’t
>already
>done this, set a spiritual marker as a reminder that you have received
>Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Write it down or establish some
>other kind
>of tangible memorial for this event and every time the devil tells you
>you’ll never be good enough for God, or that you’re so good you can remain
>independent
>of God, take him to that marker and remind him that you are right in God’s
>sight because of Jesus.
>
>· Big play Next time you’re watching a sporting event and one of the
>players makes the big play, turn to the person next to you and say, “That
>was a great
>play, but it won’t make him right in God’s sight.”
>
>· Huge error Likewise, next time you’re watching a sporting event and
>one of the players makes a huge erro, turn to the person next to you and
>say, “That
>was a huge error, but the good news is it won’t keep him from getting
>right in God’s sight.”
>
>· Pray for others Ask God to show you who to pray for, related to
>getting right in God’s sight. It may be a non-believer or someone who
>believes but struggles
>in this area. Pray that this person will know God’s “different way of
>being right in his sight—not by obeying the law but by the way promised in
>the Scriptures
>long ago (Romans 3:21 NLT) And pray that Brett Favre and his family will
>come to know this truth, so that when he retires from football he can spend the
>rest of his life preaching how to be right in God’s sight.
>
>© 2007 Jon Walker. All rights reserved.
>
>Jon Walker is a pastor-advocate living in Tennessee and the former pastor
>of communications at Saddleback Church.
>
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Brad Dunse
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