During the 2012-2013 season, the Miami heat won twenty-seven consecutive basketball games.
The all-time NBA record for consecutive victories is thirty-three, by the Los Angeles Lakers during the 1971-1972 season. Naturally, there was great interest to see whether or not Miami could break this record, which they didn’t, but the interest didn’t stop there. No. We had to know, for instance, if that Miami was really“as great” as that prior Laker team. Where did that Miami team rank historically? Would the streak have become meaningless if the Heat hadn’t capped the season with a championship? It was a rare thing during that time to hear someone say, “Gosh, this winning streak is really a wonderful achievement,” without moving immediately to someone trying to categorize just exactly how wonderful it was.
Perhaps we are tempted to do the same thing with our Christianity? It just not enough to be a Christian, is it? We must immediately know how good a Christian we are. Most of the time, we do it subconsciously, when we think that “so-and-so is such a faithful woman of God,” or that “he is such a prayerful man.” It seems we make it such a steep slope for example, for the prodigal son “coming home” to then, “becoming a qualified & quantified Christian,” as we then, at least if we’re honest, resort to, as did the Heat / Laker basketball fans, by getting consumed with determining their comparable proficiency as a winning streak BB team, or more importantly for we, as either new or old followers of Christ, and our works or maturity. Ouch! That is SO not the point.
Remember that line from John Newton’s classic: Amazing Grace”? ”How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!” The implication is clear: it’s easy for us to forget how precious grace felt and how much we needed it at the beginning of our Christian lives. And then, the moment we feel safe or that we’re getting better, grace starts to become less amazing to us. Are we being tempted to assume we needed grace a lot more at the beginning, but that as we grow and improve, we need it less and less. Ouch again! Big mistake.
The fact is, we never outgrow our need for grace. Growth is always growth into grace, not away from it. And the good news is that God’s grace is inexhaustible. It was there for us at the beginning, it will be there for us at the end, and it is there every moment of every day in between.
BOTTOM LINE: Are we not to live continually empowered and assured in the Light of His Spirit, free of our self-inflicted earthly fleshly comparisons, or even our well-meaning spiritual companions .
BB Update: In their last two games 11/6/23 and 1/03/24, the Miami Heat beat the LA Lakers 108-107 & 110-96. And the significance today of their past consecutive wins, whether 43 or 11 years ago, is fading fast for any relevant BB predictions or comparisons. My 3 -pointer exactly for us today spiritually. Run the drills. Ignore those distracting comparisons!
Source: It Is Finished. 365 Days of Good News June 4. (slightly tweaked)
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