“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” — Proverbs 9:10
A Complete Calling
Have you ever been watching your favorite team play really well on offense but make costly defensive mistakes? How about watching a lights-out defense only to see zero offensive production? A very high OR low scoring game means you’re not completely clicking as a team. Watching your team lose in either way can be very frustrating for fans, players and coaches.
In a similar way, God calls us to acknowledge the consequence of sin without undermining the grace He provides through the cross. I love how Christian musician Tauren Wells describes how these two work together in his song, “Known”: “It’s hard truth and ridiculous grace to be known.”
When one side stands alone, it just doesn’t work the way God designed it to. Can a football team’s defense take the field for offense after every turnover? No way! Even if they weren’t completely exhausted, they couldn’t perform in the same way a well-tuned offense does.
At times, it seems we may have over-corrected the “fire and brimstone” messages with a replacement one that says, “Do whatever feels right, there’s grace for that.”
“What should we say? Should we keep on sinning, so that God’s gift of undeserved grace will show up even better? No, we should not! If we are dead to sin, how can we go on sinning?” — Romans 6:1
We can’t replace hard truth with grace, or vice versa. They simply must harmonize together to develop a healthy fear of God. This harmony is a beautiful back-and-forth battle for us daily (much like a hard-fought football game). Only then can you experience true wisdom.
— Ryan Noelte
If you would like to submit a reader devotional, please email all submissions to jason@sportsspectrum.com.
