Tomorrow
they will play the Super Bowl. As a Packer fan, I am still licking my wounds
from two weeks ago when the boys let us down and failed to put us in the final
game. OK, I have nothing to do with it, but that’s how it makes me feel!
At the end of the game between the
Packers and the Seahawks, a bad thing happened. The media rushed over to
interview the winning quarterback. The quarterback had a terrible game. He
threw 4 interceptions! However, in overtime, he threw 3 perfect passes to win
the game. Through the highs and lows of the 60 minute monumental struggle,
through the poor performance, through the peaking in the extra time period,
this young man emerged victorious…and emotional. With all his fiber, I believe
what he had to say to the media. With tears rolling down his face and not
caring who was around him…totally uninhibited… he said, “God is good.”
I am proud of him for publically
living his faith. HOWEVER…to others watching, in one failed swoop the quarterback
told millions that God chose him and his team over the other team. Others
heard, because we won, God is good. I don’t believe that this is what he
meant…but it is what he said. I believe he meant to thank God for His help to
achieve a goal and to recognize that it was God who gave him the strength to do
it…but that’s not what he said.
This is no different than when we
(yes, I am including myself) have conversations and say things to others like
“…good luck….” There is no such thing as luck. There are too many scriptures
that tell us otherwise. So why do we do it? For the most part, I believe the
answer is twofold. First, I believe that many Christians are simply ignorant of
truth and therefore do not have a prepared response. Put this together with the
idea that we are merely regurgitating the diet of what we are listening to.
So, I would like to believe that this
young quarterback was praising God for the righteous reasons. If the Packers
would have won, I hope the young quarterback would not believe that
God chose the Packers team over his team. That would not be “goodness”. Can you
imagine, “God likes the Packers more than the Seahawks!” I would imagine there
are fanatics who think this way…but that’s just sacrilege. God loves us all the
same! If he would have lost the game, I hope that the young quarterback would
still believe that “God is good”.
Thus, in a moment, a powerful Christian
teaching was presented to millions through actions and words. All that we can
interpret is what transpired. After winning the game, the young quarterback
said, “God is good”.
How do you translate that?
