Third Team Scheduled for the National Championship

Monday’s night’s National Championship Game is a much-anticipated event. Georgia and Alabama have gone head-to-head in the SEC for what seems like a lifetime. Georgia fans are hoping (and some I am sure praying) for the win, while Alabama fans are confident in their long legacy of National Championship victories.

There is a third team however that will take the field Monday that will certainly win. Their team colors are black and white. They are the first on the field and the last off the field. And while there are times in this team’s football career they feel as if they can never win with fans, coaches and players, they are always right. Their ruling always supersedes anyone else’s opinion. It is the officiating team.

This team will be in Lucas Oil Stadium, but they will not be motivated by the 100,000 fans. They will be on the field, but they won’t be swayed by the players or coaches. They will be on television, but they will not be persuaded by the almost 20 million people watching. Though they are in the middle of the game, they are not influenced by the environment around them. They only have one thing that dictates the game for them, the Rule Book.

No matter what happens in the National Championship, they always go back to the Rule Book. Their thought patterns are established based on the Rule Book. How they watch the game playing out in front of them is determined by the Rule Book. The words they speak align with the Rule Book and their decisions about the game are dictated by the Rule Book. Occasionally, this team makes a hasty judgment and there is a need to review the call and reflect on the decision. In that case, they go back to the Rule Book.

Believers, there is a Rule Book we must calibrate our thoughts, decisions, and reflections to. It is the Bible. If we are to know God, we must know his Word, because that is who He is, His Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1. Like this third team of officials, because we align ourselves with the Rule Book then we can be in the game, but not influenced by the game. We can be on the field, but are not forced to make snap decisions when the game isn’t going our way or suddenly shifts; we can be at peace with sound judgment that comes from the Rule Book.

At times, in the game of life, we mess up and don’t make the best decisions. That is when we take a time out and reflect as we go back to the book. Christians, we are in the world, but we are not of the world. We are called to be the team who steps out in faith based on the Word that is in our Rule Book. And like the National Championship Game, the only time people will cheer us on will be when the Rule Book goes in their favor. Otherwise, we will be heckled, booed and the scripture says despised.

Join me every Tuesday and Thursday on Dirt Road Believer YouTube as we delve into God’s Rule Book and delight in getting to know His ways. Enjoy the upcoming National Championship and Go Dawgs!