THE COMEBACK

I lost a basketball game against my much younger sister:  10-0!

It was the early 90’s, Mini Vanili was lip-syncing their way into our hearts with great hits like “Blame it on the Rain,” mom would knock you off the internet anytime she’d make a phone call, and there was nothing smart about our phones.  I was a high school student.  After school one day my little sister asked me if I’d be willing to go to the backyard to shoot some hoops.  I agreed.  As I walked out it came to me!  The perfect idea:  I was going to orchestrate the greatest comeback in sports history. 

We would play—the first to make 10 baskets wins.  I would allow her to get to 9 without me scoring a point.  Then I’d unleash the big baller skills, the Israel magic and come back from behind to clinch the win.  It was a fool proof plan.  She quickly got to 9 baskets and it was time for me to turn it on.  After some fancy dribbling, I went up for an easy layup.  The ball bounced off the rim.  No basket.  No big deal.  I was confident in my skills to stop her from scoring again.  She rebounds the ball, backs up and takes the shot.  I jump as high as I can to swat down what she threw up.  The ball leaves her fingertips flies up, up, up in the air beyond my far reach, over my swinging hand, toward the basket, and swish!  She jumps up in the air with a loud cheer.  I want to disappear, find a time machine to change history.  But it was over.  I was beat, badly by my own little sister, 10-0!

It shouldn’t have ended that way.  I gambled and lost.  The good news for me is that it was just a game.  The sad news for some of us is that we’re doing the same thing with our lives:  Holding back from unleashing our full potential.  “I’ll do it TOMORROW!  God will get my best when I’m done having some fun.  I’m laying low now.  But when I get serious, watch out!  I will be amazing!  My comeback is coming, just not yet!”  The problem is we never know when that final shot will be taken and our game will be over.

Let me ask you:  What are you putting off?  Everyone loves a comeback story.  But our problem is either: #1) We don’t believe one is possible for us.  #2) We wait until it’s too late.  I want to encourage you today:  If you woke up this morning and there wasn’t a chalk outlining your body where you lay, you’re alive!  Today is a great day to orchestrate the greatest comeback in history!  But how?  It’s not up to you.  If you’re IN CHRIST the Bible says this:   And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Romans 8:11

You have COMEBACK power in you if the Spirit of God lives in you.

I’ve heard it said that most valuable land on earth isn’t found in the diamond mines of Africa, on the Las Vegas strip, or in Paris.  The most valuable land is the grave.  The grave is filled with so much lost potential.  The grave is filled with books and songs that were never written, ideas and plans that were never put to action.

What greatness is waiting in you?  Yield to the Spirit’s power and unleash what God wants to do through you.