Every team making it to NFL Wild Card Weekend should be thrilled…especially teams we haven’t seen in the playoffs for awhile like the Rams, Jaguars, and Titans.
But the Buffalo Bills seem to be the most excited after waiting 17 long years for this day to come. With the longest postseason drought in professional sports, fans and players are ecstatic about sneaking into the playoffs at the last minute!
Video from the Bills’ locker room showed just what a big deal this is for them. You can’t help but be happy for the team, city, and fans when you watch them celebrate with such elation about making it to the postseason and having the chance to face Jacksonville on Sunday.
If you compare their childlike enthusiasm to the fans and players from teams like the Patriots or Steelers, there is a big difference. The playoffs are commonplace for those teams, and it’s more of a yearly routine than a joyous moment of accomplishment. The fans are so used to making the playoffs that they tend to take it for granted.
Thinking about Buffalo’s genuine appreciation for still playing in January versus the matter-of-fact attitude of other teams. I wonder which fan base attitude resembles our worship and awe of God?
Unfortunately, our faith can become routine over time and less passionate and celebratory as it once was. We can even find ourselves complacent, bored, and spiritually dry.
However, once we remember how great God is and all He’s done for us, and what our lives would be without Him, our worship and faith can become exuberant again – regardless of how many years “we’ve been in the playoffs.”
In Deuteronomy 8 (NLT), Moses encourages the Israelites to remember how God led them through the wilderness for forty years into the promised land. While things are going well for them, he gives them this warning in verses 10-14:
“When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you. But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today.
“For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.”
As followers of Jesus, we’ve been saved and given so much that we don’t deserve. Instead of taking it all for granted, let’s pray Psalm 51:12 (NLT) today: “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and make me willing to obey You.”
Check out more from Bryce Johnson on sports, faith, and life at Unpackin’It
