Scripture Study
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” — 1 Corinthians 9:24
The Ultimate Underdog Story
Does God actually care about football?
Watching the Indiana Hoosiers take down the mighty Miami Hurricanes in the National Championship game got me thinking about that very question. Unless you were a Miami fan, it seemed like the rest of the country was rallying behind the Hoosiers. Historically known as one of the most losing programs in college football history, Indiana had never won a national title.
By game day, they were favored by 7.5 points, but at the start of the season? They were sitting at 100-to-1 longshot odds just to win the national championship, and weren’t even picked to win their own conference.
The exact same was true for their quarterback, Fernando Mendoza. He entered the season with 100-to-1 odds to win the Heisman Trophy. Coming out of high school, he was rated a modest 2-star recruit, ranked 2,149th overall nationally and 140th among quarterbacks. He wasn’t the guy anyone expected to dominate the season or lift the Heisman.
A Movie-Script Season
After the title game, Mendoza openly gave glory to God—something he consistently did throughout the whole season.
It raises an interesting question: Does his public faith mean God stepped in to help him and the Hoosiers win it all?
To make the story even more surreal, Mendoza played the championship game right in his hometown, going up against the very Miami team he grew up cheering for as a child. On top of that, his mother has been battling Multiple Sclerosis. All of these storylines converging at once sound like something straight out of a Hollywood script—you wouldn’t even believe it if it didn’t happen right in front of us.
Does God Take Sides in the Game?
Seeing stories like that certainly points people toward God’s goodness, but what about the believers on the Miami roster? Doesn’t God love and care about them just as much? Why would God choose for Miami to lose if He actively intervened for Indiana to win? Was the Hoosiers’ faith somehow “stronger”?
Does God care about football? I believe He does. Many of His sons and daughters play, coach, and invest their lives in the sport, so He absolutely cares about the things that matter to them.
Does He control the outcome of every game? He certainly has the power to orchestrate whatever He wills. While we won’t fully understand the inner workings of divine providence until we get to heaven, I don’t believe God is up there pulling strings just to decide who gets a trophy and who gets a loss.
What He Cares About Most
What God cares deeply about is your character.
I believe God will allow, orchestrate, or step back from circumstances to accomplish one primary goal: shaping your character and conforming you to the image of Jesus.
God is infinitely more invested in the state of the individual player’s heart than the final score on a stadium scoreboard. Win or lose, He is actively at work meeting the deeper spiritual needs of everyone on that field.
Have a great day in Christ,
Matt
