Wednesday 14th June
Continuing with my World Cup predictions: Germany 1, Poland 1; Spain 0 Ukraine 0; Tunisia 1, Saudi Arabia 0.
Do you remember the last World Cup final? Brazil won, and afterwards many of their players knelt down and publicly thanked God. Also, they removed their yellow shirts to reveal white t-shirts with messages such as ‘Jesus loves me’ on.
Because of this, do you think that God was on their side? Did they win because they had a pact with God or because they were the best footballers? If they had lost the final, would they have publicly thanked God for coming second?
I do not know the answer to any of these questions. I was very pleased that God was given glory in such a public arena.
But it makes me wonder, how many times do I try and make a deal with God. Do I ever promise to do something for him if only he’ll do something for me?
Do we, as Christians, assume that God is on our side? We can claim promises like in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
If we do this, we have misunderstood what being a Christian is about. It’s not getting God onto our side; it’s about us getting onto God’s side.
My agenda might involve England winning the World Cup, me winning a variety of competitions, etc. But when I became a Christian I put my agenda aside and committed myself to God’s. | 