What Kind of Fan Are You?
Originally Posted Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Recently my older brother was here visiting with his two kids, and we had the wonderful experience of going to a Steelers game together. You have to understand that in my family, being a Steelers fan is not something you choose; it's a birthright that is passed down through the generations. I always say that if you were born in Pittsburgh, black and gold is in your DNA. You would truly have a difficult time finding fans anywhere that are more dedicated to their team than Steelers fans. It's almost like a religion. No matter where the Steelers are playing, you'll look out across the stadium and see gold Terrible Towels everywhere, as if you were at a home game. All those things are truly charactistic of being a die-hard fan, but I still think the true test of a fan is how he behaves when his team is not playing well...when they're behind by a few touchdowns and there's only a few minutes left in the 4th quarter. Does he stick around to witness what will surely be a humiliating loss for his team, all the while hoping they will pull out a miracle comeback and win the game?
I've seen a lot of games turn around at the last minute, and it usually happens when most of the fans have given up and left the stadium. I personally think the people that give up on their team when it gets tough are just not real hard-core fans. If you saw the Texans/Colts game a couple weeks ago, it was a perfect example of what I'm talking about. The Texans are ahead by 3 scores, there are only 3 minutes and change left in the last quarter, and the quarterback Rosenfels makes a couple of critical errors that give the Colts a chance to score 3 touchdowns in those last few minutes. If I were a Colts fan that had given up and left the game before it was over, I would have been kicking myself for not having stuck around to see the good stuff!
But isn't that what we do in the Christian life? We claim to be "all in" for God as long as things are going our way. We sing songs like "It is Well With my Soul" as long as the bills are paid, nobody's sick, our marriage seems solid, and we just got a promotion at work. Then, the storms start to come, and our team is down by a touchdown and a field goal. Those of us who are truly seeking God in our daily lives remind ourselves of God's promises, and we decide to trust Him for a comeback. But then Satan pulls out all the stops, and suddenly our team is too far behind to win the game. We start to feel like we can't hold on till the end of game. We pat ourselves on the back for sticking with the team as long as we did, and we notice that a bunch of fans are clearing the stands. We tell ourselves, "we'll get 'em next time," and we bail out on the game.
But isn't that what we do in the Christian life? We claim to be "all in" for God as long as things are going our way. We sing songs like "It is Well With my Soul" as long as the bills are paid, nobody's sick, our marriage seems solid, and we just got a promotion at work. Then, the storms start to come, and our team is down by a touchdown and a field goal. Those of us who are truly seeking God in our daily lives remind ourselves of God's promises, and we decide to trust Him for a comeback. But then Satan pulls out all the stops, and suddenly our team is too far behind to win the game. We start to feel like we can't hold on till the end of game. We pat ourselves on the back for sticking with the team as long as we did, and we notice that a bunch of fans are clearing the stands. We tell ourselves, "we'll get 'em next time," and we bail out on the game.
Ok...enough with the football analogy already, right? The point is, when we bail out on God when things get really bad, we miss out on the big comeback. We miss out on the blessings, the lessons, and the strengthening of our faith that He had in mind for us all along. If we can just hold out a little bit longer and keep believing God is able, we'll be one of the few who stuck around to reap the harvest and enjoy the victory.
Galatians 6:9 "And let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
