I never played football in High School or College. The High School I went to only had about 40 kids so we didn’t have enough interest or money to have football and the College that I went to was too small for football as well. I played basketball in both High School and College and baseball in College. I never saw or watched a real live football game until I married Patty. Her Dad was a football star in High School and College and played on a local Sem-pro team for several years. So he couldn’t have a football-illiterate son-in-law, so when we went to visit if it was the season he would take me to a game. We went to several San Fransisco 49 games, and Oakland Raider games when the Raiders were in Oakland. That is one of the reasons that I am now a “49ers” fan. Now I enjoy watching football on television, both College and NFL, and occasionally make it to one of my grandson’s High School games. I rarely miss watching “Monday Night Football” with a bunch of friends at the church.

I listen to a number of sports commentators each week on “YouTube” as they explain about various teams and players, why they are good or bad, and why they lost or won. I enjoy it very much, and I am thinking about joining a “Fantasy Football League” next year.

I have said numerous times that most Biblical truth is illustrated by life. The Apostle Paul often uses various aspects of life to illustrate his teaching, and he regularly uses Sports to illustrate spiritual principles. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 he uses both track and boxing as illustrations of exercising self-control to accomplish a goal. In other passages he talks about wrestling and athletics in general to illustrate spiritual truths.

I am teaching a class each week on “Angels and Demons” and as I study I can’t help but to think about football. We are daily involved in what is termed “Spiritual Warfare”, the battle taking place between angels and demons over our heads for the control of people’s lives. Colossians 2:15 says that Christ defeated the devil and his demons when he died and rose again. I will let you study the context of this passage. “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.”

There is a lot happening today in the world, and the devil is diligently trying to win the football game, but he has already been defeated by Jesus, so I am going to live like and talk like a winner because I am on Jesus’s team and we will win, and in fact we have already won.