God and the Touchdown

Have you ever seen football players point up to heaven when they make a touchdown catch, sack a quarterback, or recover a fumble? I am talking about things that take place every week in the National Football League and many other sporting events to be sure. Some of the athletes point up to heaven when they accomplish a big play, one that they are paid to do I might add.

I have never seen an interviewed player asked why they point up to heaven. Common sense would dictate the players who do this are thanking God for the accomplishment. However, I cannot be certain, as I have not heard for myself the reason why any player would give God thanks for a touchdown. Some of you are wondering where I am going with this. To them I say, “Patience whippersnappers, all things in time.”

Thanking God for something good happening is a good thing, isn’t it? Aren’t we commanded to be thankful? Indeed we are. Unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple; nothing scriptural ever is. Lets take a look at some scripture and see what the Lord is instructing us about being thankful.

Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus (Ephesians 5:20)

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of our Lord Jesus giving thanks to Him through God the father. (Colossians 3:17)

Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication let your request be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

In everything give thanks for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

And we know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

Some of you will say, “There, that settles it, so it is a good thing when a player points up to heaven when he does something good on the field.” However, if you notice, the scripture verses make it clear that we are to be grateful for all things. All things; now that is a big pill to swallow. In other words we cannot pick and choose when we are going to point to heaven and give God an acknowledgement of thanks.

All things means all things, its just that simple. If a football player, or anyone else for that matter, chooses to acknowledge God when they do something great they also need to acknowledge God when something bad happens. Not just the touchdown catch in the end zone, but also the dropped pass in the end zone, the fumble that was recovered by the opposing team and of course all the players must point to heaven when the other team wins the super bowl and begins taunting the losing players right on national TV. Remember; give God thanks in all things.

The pitcher who strikes out the opposing team and wins the game can only point to heaven if that same pitcher agrees to point to heaven when someone blasts a grand slam against him and his team looses in the bottom of the ninth inning.

To be fair, I am not picking on professional athletes, as we are no different than they. Walk up to any Christian at church and ask them how things are going and they will invariably praise God for some event that has turned in their favor. Yet, I don’t know of any Christian who gives God praise when they lose their job. Have you ever heard of a Christian who said, “Praise God my company is closing and I will probably be out of work for many months?” Either have I.

Some Christians claim that the verses instructing us to praise God mean we should give God the glory only when things are going good, and accept the bad things but not necessarily praise God for them. However, that flies in the face of the verses I have listed and it raises other questions. When a Christian football player catches a touchdown pass to win the game he may have been covered by a Christian cornerback on the opposing team who failed to keep his opponent from catching the ball. What is the determining factor in God’s logic here? Does God love the Christian player who caught the ball more than He loves the Christian player covering him?

It is easy to see how complex and confusing things can become when we try to determine God’s reasoning. A Christian can ask, “Why is my child sick when other Christian children are healthy? Does God love them more than me? Fiddlesticks. One can never measure God’s love by what we see as blessings. If that were true then God would have never allowed Jesus to suffer and die in the manner He did. And if there was no crucifixion then would be no complete demonstration of God’s love for us, as there would be no atonement for sin.

So the next time you see a football player, or any athlete for that matter, praising God for a great on field play remind the TV set you’re watching that the Bible says “all things.” If God is in the touchdown catch, He is also in the fumble. As Job said, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)

That’s easy for Job to say, he didn’t have to deal with all the problems we have.

I think you get my point.