Undefeated

Psalm 116:5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is merciful. 6 The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. 7 Return to your rest, O my soul, For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. 8 For You have delivered my soul from death, My eyes from tears, And my feet from falling. 9 I will walk before the Lord In the land of the living. 10 I believed, therefore I spoke, "I am greatly afflicted."11 I said in my haste, "All men are liars." 12 What shall I render to the Lord For all His benefits toward me? 13 I will take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the Lord. 14 I will pay my vows to the Lord Now in the presence of all His people. 15 Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His saints. 16 O Lord, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have loosed my bonds. 17 I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, And will call upon the name of the Lord. 18 I will pay my vows to the Lord Now in the presence of all His people, 19 In the courts of the Lord's house, In the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

When I was about 14 years old or so, me and my dad were walking home from the high school down at the end of our street. Somehow, the subject of a race came up, and the next thing I know I was sprinting alongside my dad. He is thirty years older than me, so I sure thought I was finally mature enough to take him, especially since he was in his forties and I hadn’t seen him run in a long time; and I ran ALL the time, playing baseball and football and such.

He beat me. Flat out. He still had it. Imagine how humbling that was to me. I’m kinda glad to say that was the only time I ever raced him. It wasn’t one of those deals where I kept coming back year after year until I finally outran him due to his age. He beat me once, I was humbled, and that was it. I never tried that again.

My dad remains, therefore, undefeated. (By me, at least.)

That’s pretty cool if you think about it. (Having an undefeated father, that is.) I like that thought. It means something to me.

I’m really glad Jesus told us to call God, “our Father.” It helps me relate to what I don’t think could be imagined otherwise. As I speak to my Father, (or - as Jesus encouraged, my “Daddy,” or ‘Abba,”) I am now in a relatable, personal, position. I am a son. I know how to be a son. I know how to be humble before my father…

And, thanks to my father’s example, (and I am aware not everyone has this kind of loving relationship with their earthly father,) I know what it means that my Father, my God, is undefeated. Unlike my earthly father, that fact will NEVER change. My Father in Heaven is undefeated and ever shall be. And since He is, I KNOW nothing can or will separate me from Him.

-  Pastor Bill