God’s Champions for Today

Food to Nourish Our Souls:  God’s Champion for Today (1 Samuel 17)
          We all love the story of David and Goliath, and perhaps we too desire to be a champion like young David. What is the difference between the children of Israel who feared Goliath and David who saved his people from a miserable defeat. One commentator helpfully observed that the Israelites had a horizontal perspective of life, while God’s champion had a vertical perspective of life.  
           Basically, a horizontal life is living life without God. And in King Saul and in the people, the absence of of God in their life led to a paralyzing fear of the Champion Goliath.  “The Champion” literally means in Hebrew, “the man in between”.  He was the man who stood between the Philistines and Israel and their God. But where is the Champion for God’s people? Where is God’s champion? With a horizontal focus, the army was too afraid to face the enemy.
           But the most unexpected champion came forward.  He was a young Shepherd boy named David. This youth alone was willing to stand up to be God’s Champion for God’s people.  What made David different from all the others? He had a vertical perspective of life.  The Bible tells us he was man after God’s own heart. With faith in God, he was a man of honor, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence. And especially, this youth’s faith kept his eye on God. So, he knew the Lord was with Him, and the Lord will win the battle!
         This is the most important question of our day. Where are God’s Champions today?  I might surprise you by saying, “You can’t be that champion.”  We often read this story and moralize it to say: “I’m the champion the world needs. Let me loose on the world’s problems.”  But have we set the Lord always before our eyes.  When the Lord is set always before us, we have the courage to step forward and to do what God wills.
          As a football coach for the Dallas Cowboys, I thought of Coach Tom Landry as one of the greatest champions of my lifetime. I heard a few years ago his testimony.  He spoke about how when he went to the Dallas Cowboys, he believed “success in a chosen field would lead him to happiness.” And when came to his greatest coaching job, he wasn’t happy. In fact, he said he felt empty and anything but happy. Then one day, a friend invited him to a Bible Study. He responded that he went to Church twice a year on Christmas and Easter, and he knew everything he needed to know.
         But his friend persuaded him to go, and here he met Jesus. When he came to Christ, he saw first that he was a “church go-er” all his life but not a Jesus follower. Secondly, he realized football could never give him what he wanted. And what he wanted was not happiness but the joy and peace that Jesus gave Him. Thirdly, he learned that following Jesus meant all his life priorities changed. Jesus was first in his life, and then his family and then his job.  
             Like David, it was only when the Lord was always set before Him that Landry became a champion for God and His people. What does a champion for God look like today? A Champion for God has faith that sees the difficulties of life as God’s training not as an excuse for one’s own pity party. A Champion for God is on God’s Mission to defend the glory of God. And lastly, God’s champion depends by faith on the Holy Spirit to be equipped for the mission.
          There is a greater champion than you or me. Jesus Christ is the true Champion that you need, that the world needs.  If you want to be a true champion for your family, your community, your nation, your world, you must answer a question: “Whose side are you on?”
          What we really need today are people willing to stand with God’s Champion, Jesus Christ?  If today, you want to be a champion for God, to receive that eternal crown, the prize that really counts, come and pray? Commit your life to Him. Know Him and grow in your relationship with Him and walk with Him daily. Then, as He leads you, be willing to act in faith with the Holy Spirit’s strength.