Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Song of Songs 5-6
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Luke 18:31-33
Jesus: Look, my friends, we are going up to Jerusalem. Everything the prophets have written about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the outsiders. They will mock Him, disgrace Him, and spit on Him; they will scourge Him, and they will kill Him. And on the third day, He will rise from death.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
Okay team, we’re headed to the Super Bowl. Here’s how the game will go. Once we get on the field, the other team is going to pound us into the ground. The referees will look the other way and won’t call a single penalty on them, though. In fact, when they run off side plays or have pass interference or blind tackles, we’re the ones that will get the flag, not them. By the end of the first quarter we’ll be down 21 to nothing and by the end of the half the score will be 45 to zip. But don’t get discouraged. That’s just the first half. They won’t be bringing their first string in until the second half, so it’s okay.
In the second half, the first string will be ready to play since we will be pretty tuckered out by then. Most of the team will be broken and bleeding on the sidelines within the first few minutes of the second half. I expect we’ll only be playing with about eight players total by the end of the third quarter. The rest will be benched because of injuries or they will just be so beaten up and exhausted they can’t make it onto the field anymore. But that’s okay. I’ll still be the quarterback and we’ll make it.
So at the end of fourth quarter, all of you will be in the locker room or on the way home. I’ll be the only one on the field and the refs will still be calling the game for our opponents. Nothing will be out of bounds for them. In fact, I expect they’ll even try to bring some brass-knuckles and lead pipes on the field just to make it interesting with only one player opposing them. But that’s okay, too. I’ll still be in the game for you and the Super Bowl will still be televised for everyone to see. So in the last seconds when they kill me and the score is 112 to 3, don’t worry. I’ve got this wrapped up.
You see, the world has these rules they play by, but there is a new owner of the NFL. He just bought all the teams and isn’t allowing any but him to influence or make the rules. He doesn’t really care what the scoreboard says or what the referees think they are doing. He owns the entire franchise now and he sets the rules. When the final whistle blows, he is the one who will hand the cup over to the winning team. He will have watched the whole game from a position where he can see every move, and even hear every word that every player and every coach says.
He’ll know everything that goes on down on the field and will determine who wins in the end. Oh, by the way, he gave everyone the rules a long time ago, but I don’t think very many people read his rule book. They decided to make up their own. That’s why the score will run up the way it will and all of you will need to run away and let them kill me. But like I said, don’t worry. Even though I’m out there not breathing, with no heartbeat, and they decide to bury me, that’s okay. There will be a lot of controversy over the game.
Our opponents will think they won because of the score and all of us gone, but the trophy won’t have been given out yet. So just stick around. This will get interesting. So we play on Friday this year instead of Sunday just to be different. The owner is trying to shake things up a little. And since the game will be pretty brutal and I’ll be a pretty messed up blob of flesh by then, they’ll bury me the same day. But what would normally be game time on Sunday, the trophy will be presented.
And guess who will get the trophy! Me. You guys can join in on the fun later, but I’ll get the trophy and all those guys that thought they won because they scored so heavily on Friday will just stand there with their mouths open. They won’t believe they lost the game, but that’s the way it goes. They didn’t write the rules. The owner of all the teams writes the rules and if you don’t play by his rules, you can’t win. He doesn’t care about scores, he cares about how you play. And since I did everything he asked me to do, I win. Period. End of conversation.
Well, it’s not a super bowl. And it’s not a game. But I hope you get the point. God gave us the rules a long time before any of us were born and He’s watching. He’s the one that determines who wins in the end. In fact, the winner has already been declared. Doesn’t it make sense to be on that team?
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