13 Feb Two Minute Warning

Well, the biggest football game of the year is in the books. And the game took a pivotal turn right about the two minute warning. But have you ever asked yourself why there is a two-minute warning? I had no clue until I stumbled on it by accident recently.

The NFL instituted the two-minute warning in 1942 to warn players that the end of the first half or the game was near. Back then, there was no game clock visible to players. Time was kept with a stopwatch. The warning was instituted so the half didn’t suddenly end without players having a clue it was coming; something that was pretty important in close games. By the 1960’s the original reason for the two-minute warning had vanished. Players could see the game clock on the scoreboard. But the NFL kept the two-minute warning and found new purposes for it (mostly TV advertising time). When I read this little factoid, it occurred to me that in our faith walk we often hang onto things that were in our lives before Jesus and we’re not sure why we keep doing them.

Maybe it’s a television show we no longer find appropriate. But, what the heck, the DVR still records, so why not watch it? Maybe it’s eating when we’re not hungry. Or it could be inappropriate language. They all served a toxic purpose: trying to fill the hole in our hearts that only Jesus could fill.

But that empty space is gone. We have accepted Christ and He fills the void in our hearts. Those things from our pre-Jesus life no longer serve a purpose. Why do we hang onto them?

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2

What “two-minute warning” are you hanging onto?  Have you, like the NFL, come up with new purposes for old habits that you have convinced yourself are pleasing to God? In his letter to believers in Rome, the apostle Paul makes it clear that there is no room for the old. You’re not an old house God is remodeling. He wants to blast your old life away right down to the foundation and start over. He doesn’t want you hanging onto vestiges of who you were. He wants you to lean into who He is making you to be.

Ask yourself this: what aspects of your life is God asking you to bench permanently? Players no longer need to worry about blindly crashing into the end of a half or a game. What can you leave behind? Surrender to Jesus, be transformed. Do not conform to this world. You’ll be glad you did. It’s a whole new ballgame.

— Pastor Jerry Bader