Consistency with Grace

Well, we have come to the end of another college football season and the arguments will still be made for some type of playoff approach to determine the national championship. Although Florida beat Ohio St. convincingly, you still have the top two teams each having lost once. And of course, Boise St. can argue for their right to first place with an undefeated season. One can analyze the top 10 to death. I cheered for two teams this year and was disappointed with both – Arkansas and USC. Florida was beaten by Auburn and I like to point out that Auburn was beaten by Arkansas, but then Arkansas lost to Florida in the SEC playoff game. USC slipped to Oregon State, and who knows why, but then still had the chance to be in the championship game against Ohio State, but got beat by their cross-town rival UCLA; then they beat Michigan in such a way that made the comparison with the Ohio State v. Michigan game look like Ohio St. would have a very difficult time staying with USC. Now you may be saying, what is his point and what in the world does this have to do with a “spiritual discussion”?

My point is this, without a playoff system like March Madness in college basketball to award the national college football championship to the last team standing, there are two key factors to determining the national champion in the present system: consistency and grace. The best argument for Florida being the national champion, in my opinion, is not only that they beat Ohio State, but that with that victory they demonstrated through the whole season that they were the better team. You may disagree with the system and my analysis of it, but without a playoff system, that’s how it looks. If this is not the case then Boise State should be the national champion for they finished the season undefeated. The reason Florida is the champion is that the system determines that they have consistently demonstrated through the season that they are a better team than Boise State, even though they were once beaten and Boise State was undefeated. I would call this “consistency with grace,” meaning that even though they lost a game, which makes their won-lost record no better than some others, the present system is designed to overlook that loss and award their consistent play with the championship award. The system allowed some grace to be applied to their loss. What’s spiritual about this discussion?

No analogy is perfect, but our relationship with God may be closer to the BCS system than a playoff system. In the playoff system, once you make the playoffs, one loss and you are out. In the BCS system it is not just about winning the last game, it is about the consistency of the season that gets you into the championship game. Frankly, in football, as a fan, I like a playoff better; but in life, I like a system that will allow me a loss or two during the season and I am still able to be in the running for the championship. My winning relationship with God is not based on my perfection, but on my consistency of faith within His grace.

David