Does God Care About Your NCAA Brackets?

If you are like me in some times past, you may spend more time on your submission of an NCAA bracket to the office pool than you will spend in quiet time the next 2 or 3 days.  Have you ever tried to make a deal with God about what you will do with the winnings if God would just help you divine the winning teams?  How many of those deals do you think God has seen made and then unfulfilled afterward?  Indeed, why doesn’t God see fit to help me hit more 300 yard drives and make more putts on the golf course so I can be a better witness for Him?  Some of you who have been my partner wonder why I don’t settle for just one of those 300 yd drives as you probably wonder where and when the last one took place.

The readings in the last few weeks from my texts in reading the Bible thru in a year have been coming from the book of Leviticus.  I have never studied this book in detail before and it has been an eye opener for me.  As a matter of fact the word “detail” is a good one to describe how God commanded the children of Israel to make atonement for their sins.  Time after time, there was disobedience on the part of the Israelites and time after time, God had to discipline them and require sacrifices for their transgressions.  Every time it seems that God wants his people to come back to Him, He requires something in “blood”.   The people of Israel had a special way of offering a blood sacrifice to the high priest Aaron, and Aaron was required to spill the blood in a special way to please God.  The place all of this was done was called the Tabernacle and the dimensions and the layout of the Tabernacle were clearly outlined by God to Moses and given to Aaron.  For 2000 years, this tradition of blood sacrifices was established in the minds and traditions of the children of Israel.

Along comes Jesus… our blood sacrifice.  We are all now just like Aaron in that we have the ability to go to God ourselves as our own “high priest” with our blood sacrifice as we can claim our forgiveness in the name of Christ.  Have you shared that incredible gift with anyone recently?   When you finish your NCAA bracket, think how insignificant some of our “busy ness” here on earth is compared to what God is doing.  This is a great time of year to see how you can bring more of God’s Word into your life, your family, and your work. 

You see, God has already provided the greatest access and answer to your need as a human being trying to connect with HIM.  Don’t sell out to get help on your bracket, sell out to pleasing him in all you do this week and he will provide all the other “stuff” you need!   

Sent March 12, 2007

Please contact Dwight Short if you would like to receive future Monday Morning Messages.

Back to List of Archived Messages