A ball is generally viewed as a spherical shape which is by definition “a round body whose surface is at all points equidistant from the center.” When you think of a baseball, basketball, soccer ball, tennis ball, or volleyball, they all fit this definition. The fact that a football (the American version) doesn’t meet that guideline is what makes it a unique and interesting piece of sporting equipment. Someone has said, “If you think nothing is impossible, try dribbling a football.”
If it is all you have, you can play baseball with a tennis ball or soccer with a volleyball. A football is really designed to be used only as a football. As a kid, there were two games we played with a football and both of them were similar yet with significant differences. At recess, we would often play “Tackle the man with the ball.” For those of you who missed out on this character building experience, the game consists of tossing the ball to one man who then becomes the target for everyone else playing the game. Once you cradled the ball in your arms, everyone else sought to pound you into the ground. After you were tackled, you then passed the ball off to someone else and you joined the tacklers. During any given recess, the game would move over every inch of the playground as there were no boundaries, no sidelines, no out of play. There is never any real winner, at best only survivors!
The other game we played was the standard game of football. While there are many differences between football and “tackle the man with the ball”, one of the major ones was that football involves boundaries. Whether it is an organized and sponsored event with official chalk lines and goal posts, or backyard games with trees marking the goal lines and trash cans for out of bounds, the game has its guidelines. Because there are goal lines, there is way to win.
Many choose to go through life playing a version of “tackle the man with the ball.” They live with no guidelines, no rules, and no significant goals. They are busy, aggressive, and even enthusiastic. But they are all over the place. In the end, they discover they have played a game in which they can’t win! Sadly, unlike "tackle the man with the ball," in playing this game with life there are no survivors.
That is not the way it has to be. God gave us guidelines for this life. One day someone asked Jesus about these guidelines: "Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?"
Jesus replied, "'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'” (Mat 22:36-39)
Paul shared about life’s goal line this way: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.” (Rom 10:9-10)
Life is intended to have boundaries and goal lines. When we acknowledge them and live by them, we discover “the win.” “I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.” (1Jn 5:13)
