Super Bowl 2015: What I Learned From It

 

 

Competing is one thing. Rejoicing over receiving a trophy is another. This was written a day after Super Bowl 49 aired on television on February 1, 2015. However, I am posting it today, being (February 27, 2015). With that being said, I now invite you Into My HEART…

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. (1 John 2:15-16 NLT)

 

 

As I read these words in scripture it made me think of Super Bowl XLIX(49). Two football teams competed against one another. Athletic feats of strength and agility were witnessed by crowds of a great multitude. There were many exciting moments and some heartbreak. However, there was trash talking, conceitedness and prideful boasting in oneself. Such things as the latter three are not of the Father.

 

Everyone in a competition runs to win, but only one wins the prize. This we know, experience and have read. But this earthly prize, such as the Vince Lombardi Super Bowl Champion Trophy is something that is material and will most definitely perish away.

 

As I thought of all this from reading the scripture today, and reflecting on the game and its highlights and halftime show, I realize now, that the majority of what millions took in yesterday, including myself, in our viewing of the 2015 Super Bowl, was none other than what the world can offer that contradicts what God’s Word speaks on, stands for and what the Father’s heart is all about.

 

It’s quite easy to get sucked into all the hype as it is put together so well, but I thank God in Christ, that He will always remind me and you by His Word what is truly important, what takes priority and where my heart and your heart should truly be at. The saying goes, “Never forget where you come from.” Well, all of us who are in Christ, are from God. We are accepted by Him, loved by Him and treasured by Him. Halleluyah!
 

But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception...And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.

(1 John 4:4-6,13)

 

 

Through His grace and the Lord’s passionate sacrifice on the Cross, we are children of God and that will never take us having to compete with one another to gain His affection. For that, I thank God our Father.
 

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers. (1 John 4:7, 20-21)

 

 

Thank you for loving me Father. Truly, thank you for loving me without limit, without prejudice, without hesitation. I don’t need any trophy to tell me that I in Christ am a winner in your eyes. Whoever is in Christ, remember that you are a winner in God’s eyes. You are His child. You belong to Him. His love isn’t temporary. It doesn’t need to be won over. You don’t have to compete with others year around to gain it. You are wonderfully loved because God is so gracious, so loving and He Himself was willing to prove it. That is why Christ and His Cross; “Christ and Him crucified” means so much to those who are being saved by it. It is the very symbol of His eternal love towards us. Amen.

 

Whether or not it is easy for us to grasp what Jesus did for us on the Cross, let us never struggle with the fact that He did it and we can all experience the result that came from it! That is the everlasting, undisputed, uncompromising LOVE OF GOD!

 

Thank you Jesus.

 

– F. Lugo
2/2/15