Super Bowl Temptations
Ray and I just came back from a weekend visit with our older daughter Bethany and her family. What a time of refreshment, fun, and rest. On Sunday morning we got to worship with them. I was deeply encouraged by the minister’s message. I’d like to share just a little of it with you.
He asked us to finish the statement:
Everything will be okay if . . . .
He encouraged everyone planning to watch the Super Bowl last night to pray before watching, because they were about to spend an evening being bombarded with 30-second commercials. Advertisers spent millions of dollars on each commercial to make people believe that everything will be okay if only they can have this or that.
Prayer before the Super Bowl was good advice. He even suggested that the result of the prayer might be a decision that they shouldn’t even watch it.
The main point of the sermon was that the only real satisfying conclusion to the sentence, “Everything will be okay if . . . .” is “Everything will be okay if I have Jesus.”
We probably all know this is true but sometimes it is hard to remember. We are tempted to think:
Everything will be okay if my husband makes more money.
Everything will be okay if Evan gets that scholarship.
Everything will be okay when my sister and I can agree on what is best for Mom and Dad.
Everything will be okay if my children turn out as I hope they will.
Everything will be okay if I can just get well.
The minister was right. Everything will be okay if we have Jesus. If we realized how very short our stay on earth really is, it would be easier to rest in the knowledge that everything will be okay if we have Jesus. Our kids will be okay if they have Jesus, too.
When Christ, who is our life, is revealed,
then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Colossians 3:4, NASB