The comeback King

“By His power God raised the Lord from the dead, and He will raise us also.” 1 Corinthians 6:14 NIV

I am a Kansas City Chiefs fan, have been my whole life. If you have paid any attention to them lately you know that they make a habit out of coming back from deficits. They seem to thrive on it. For many years Chiefs fans loved the team in spite of a lot of losses in big games. Now, we routinely win big games. It’s nice to realize that no matter how bleak the circumstances, the comeback is coming. It has to be demoralizing to an opponent, no lead is safe. I was watching a replay of a game this week from a year ago. I knew the outcome and still watched on pins and needles.

This is a big week in the life of the church. Good Friday is coming, which marks the crucifixion of Jesus. My preacher said this week something that I have always wondered myself: Why do we call such a bleak day “Good”? The disciples watched in shock as the one they knew to be the King was killed. On Good Friday that year, hope had no home. They scattered in spite of having spent time with Him. They even denied Him. It had to be devastating. But in spite of a big lead, the enemy could not hold it. Easter was coming and Jesus knew it.

I have seen many things in my life, some have been breathtaking. We usually reserve that word for beauty, and I have seen a lot of that. But I have also come to find that sometimes hard times are in fact breathtaking as well. I remember times of having to consciously make myself breathe. A normally involuntary response became something I had to think about. It is an unnatural feeling to have no air in your lungs.

I sometimes wonder, why the three days in between Good Friday and Easter? It could have been one day and still been a miracle. It could have been 10 days and would still have been a miracle. Either way, why the gap? I think the point of the wait is for us to be more clearly ready for God. If He always showed up immediately, how would our faith grow?

Throughout the bible we see people going through some pretty extreme stuff. Persecution was common. But every story we see in the bible had an Easter coming. No deficit was insurmountable. But usually, although not always, there was a gap between a recognized need for God and Him fulfilling a promise.

After experiencing the very first Easter people did not always walk, sometimes they ran to reach others. Still, by the time Jesus had risen, some people on earth may have not even heard about the crucifixion. The comeback had occurred before some even understood how dire the situation appeared. But no great victory comes from a weak adversary. You want to beat your opponent at their best. Maybe we are about to see that happen.

We have a never been seen before event unfolding right now. The deficit is big. We have few strategies and most of those only help us feel like we are doing something helpful, we are not actually fixing anything. Most people I know are walking around (six feet apart) with no air in their chest. This is not natural to us. But just like watching the replay of a game already in the books, we know the outcome.

I heard something this week “I’ve lived through 100% of my worst days”. I am still here. I am not promised tomorrow or next week. I was not promised yesterday either and I accepted it just the same. My job is to live, for Him. That’s your job too. No matter what the score looks like right now take heart. We may be in our own metaphorical waiting period, but victory is already in the books. We don’t know when, but the King is coming back. Put some air in your lungs and spread the good news.

Rick Claiborn