Superbowl and Preseason

We all want a moment of glory in our lives. A day in the sun when we can truly feel an accomplishment. Yet most of us want a Super Bowl in our lives, but we aren’t often willing to work hard in the preseason. Jerry Rice was one of the all-time great performers in the Super Bowl. Yet he was also one of the great preseason performers. Everyone remembers when he won 4 Superbowls with the 49ers, yet few people knew or saw when he ran up a hill in the preseason. He would run up a small hill in Northern California and build up his muscles so when the Super Bowl came he was ready.

Yet which was more important? The preseason workout or the big moment at the Super Bowl when he got the glory? I say it was in the preseason when nobody saw him and no one knew. It is often said that integrity is not what you do when everyone is looking, but when no one is looking. Had Jerry Rice ignored the inglorious preseason there never would have been those four glorious Super Bowls. So it is for all of us. If we aspire to greatness of any kind, whether it is raising great kids or getting a promotion at work, whatever it is the greatness comes when no one is looking. Yet when it appears no one is looking, God is the one that can see.

We all want to be a big Super Bowl star, but to be successful you need to be a success when no one is looking and also in the big moment when it seems everyone is looking. You see the Super Bowl is really won in the preseason. God will credit you with success in life if you are a great person in secret. Yet to get to the Super Bowl the road runs through a little hill at a obscure college in Northern California that very few people know about or care about. Yet at this little college is where most of the 49ers trained to become four-time Super Bowl champions in the preseason .

The problem comes when we think we can get the glory without the sacrifice. It is often said “No pain no gain” and indeed this is true. Suffering in private comes before success in public. If you aspire to success you must be willing to suffer. Jesus redeemed the world not in a moment of glory, but in a moment of intense pain. Yet his glory came afterwards. He came as a servant, but he returns in glory. So we too must arm ourselves with the same attitude toward sin. As the Bible says (NIV Pet:4-1) “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.” So today make sure your commitment to the Super Bowl matches your commitment to the preseason. Then when you get to your moment of glory whatever it may be, you will know it was won when nobody noticed but God.