MARCH MADNESS

Well, it is late here in Alabama and I can't sleep. Normally, I can sleep through anything. We are experiencing some decent thunderstorms so maybe that is a contributor. Regardless, my mind is racing from meetings tomorrow, friends who are struggling, the uncertainty of the future, God's amazing grace, the end to the NCAA tournament, and wondering if I should get some Cookies N Cream Ice Cream.

Yes, I know that those thoughts are random! However, tonight I was sadly disappointed when the Butler men's basketball team lost to UCONN. Of course, I have nothing against UCONN nor Jim Calhoun because he is a great coach. It is just that they have won the championship multiple times. Butler was humiliated this year and suffered the agony of defeat last year. Through all of this, it pointed me to the reality of the gospel, Jesus Christ was humbled and defeated at the cross for our sake and in obedience to His Father's commands. It reminded me of Philippians 2:5-8 that says, "⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature^[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature^[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

Yet, as a believer who is united to Christ, the beauty is that God vindicated his Son in the resurrection. The chapter goes on by further saying...

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

I look forward to the day when Christ returns. In the meantime, I hope my life is consumed by something greater than March madness. How about the madness that Christ shed his blood on the cross for a wretched sinner such as I? It is hard to take in at times.

2 Corinthians 5:21

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

God is gracious.