Your Game Plan

Do you recognize this quote?

“Life holds many pleasures for me, but nothing, nothing, beats the thrill of playing on that field every Sunday.  Football is my LIFE!  Beyond the field nothing else matters.  Nothing.”

The quote will only sound familiar if you have seen the Walt Disney movie entitled 
“The Game Plan.”  The quote is made by Joe Kingman (played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), a professional quarterback who, with his team, is vying for the championship.  Without spoiling the movie for those who have not seen it, Kingman learns that there is something more important than football.

Yet, even if you have not seen the movie, there is still something strangely familiar about the quote.  Similar words are used to express the priorities that we establish in our lives.  Let’s conduct a little self-examination.  Part 1: Complete this sentence:

“For to me to live is _______________.”

What did you write in the blank?  Whatever you write in the blank reflects the top priority in your life.

Consider an answer that might be given in the world today:

“For to me to live is to accumulate wealth and possessions.”  This is 
without a doubt one of the top priorities in the lives of many people.  As one person has expressed it, “We buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t even like.”

For Part 2 of our self-examination, fill in the appropriate words that reveal the results of the pursuits of Part 1:

“For to me to live is (your answer here),
and to die is __________.”

Using the popular answer above, observe how the sentence is completed:

If to live is to accumulate wealth and possessions, then to die is to leave it all behind.  “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out” (1 Timothy 6:7).

Thus far, where does your “game plan” lead?

Now observe how the Apostle Paul completed this sentence – and expressed his top priority:

“For to me to live is CHRIST, and to die is GAIN.”
(Philippians 1:21)

Only when our “game plan” is to live for Christ can our death truly be considered gain.  How so?  Because living for Christ means to have our sins 
washed away by His blood when we submit to Him with an obedient faith: believing and trusting Him (Acts 16:30-31), turning from our sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confessing Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized (immersed) into Christ (Acts 2:38; Galatians 3:26-27).  Living for Christ means to understand the greatest purpose in life: to live to glorify Him (1 Corinthians 10:31).  Living for Christ means that death is truly gain in that an eternal inheritance awaits the faithful child of God (1 Peter 1:3-5).

In the movie, Joe Kingman had to change his game plan in order to get his priorities right.  In life, WE must change our game plans if we would truly understand the key to the abundant life now and ETERNAL life to come.

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

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