Football is back - and it's a long season

It is August once again and if you are anything like me then that means one thing: football is back. It is a time of year which brings with it optimism and pessimism, hope and dread, as we get ready to ride the 38-game rollercoaster again.

The break has refreshed us enough only to once again succumb to both the joyous highs, and crushing lows our teams put us through between now and May.

However you are feeling about the start of the season, I am sure most of us will agree that it is always good to have the football back, and a relief to have made it through the summer break, often dubbed the longest two months of the year.

There is much talk over which sporting format is the best barometer of deciding which competitor is the greatest. Other sports, like tennis operate under a virtually exclusive knockout format, which sees the winner succeed by winning seven matches, in the case of major tournaments. Golf tournaments take place over four-days, with the best player winning by shooting the best score over the entire four days.

The league system which football uses is undoubtedly the greatest way to separate the best from the rest; everyone in the competition plays everyone else the same number of times, and the best is decided over the course of a 10-month long, 38-match campaign.

Only the very best teams can rise to the top of the league table and stay there over the course of a long season. Its length and variety of challenges ensures that a team cannot just play well every week and win with ease. It tests a team’s resilience and mental toughness, as it requires them to respond to the disappointment of the inevitable setbacks and failures which come during such a long period of testing against other strong challengers.

Parallels with the Christian life

The Christian life has many parallels to the league season. You cannot just be a Christian when you feel like it, or turn it on for certain days, and then decide you don’t fancy it on others. You have to work hard, allowing Christ to transform your life and allow Him to slowly mould you into the person He wants you to be, like in the illustration of the potter with his clay.

The potter works away, gradually chipping off the rough edges and reshaping his craft until he can eventually see his own reflection in the final product. It is a process which takes time to complete, but it is worth it in the end when he sees the final product.

Sometimes, we will feel tangible progress being made in our lives, as we become more like Christ. Sometimes it will be more of a struggle, and we might have to endure moments of hardship, pain and humility, as God chips off our rough edges and gradually helps us reflect His glory more.

There will be highs and lows during our walk with the Lord, but we will reflect Him more and more as He continues to mould and shape us, and the prize awaiting us at the end of our journey will be worth everything it has cost us and more - far greater than any of the joy seen when a football team wins the league championship at the end of a long season.