READY:
“As it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight! Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be made low; the crooked will become straight, the rough ways smooth, and everyone will see the salvation of God.” – Luke 3:4-6
SET:
An assist is defined as a statistic awarded to a player who passes, crosses, or touches the ball, enabling a teammate to score a goal. We’ve all been a part of an assist, whether we are the ones doing the assisting, or another teammate is assisting us. We’ve all experienced a moment where another player benched his or her glory to set us up for the winning moment.
John the Baptist is telling us how Jesus did this same thing for us when He came to earth to die as the sacrifice for our sins. He filled all the valleys, made low every mountain and hill, made the crooked roads straight and the rough ways smooth so that everyone could see the salvation of God. That was the winning moment and Jesus made a way. In fact, He was the Way (John 14:6).
Jesus did all this by dying as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, awarding us forgiveness and righteousness with right fellowship with God. There was no way for us to see the salvation of God because our sin was too great. Jesus performed the greatest assist by bringing us to the Father through His shed blood on the cross.
He benched His glory to bring us near to the Father. Paul said it best in Philippians 2:5-8: “Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead, He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death- even to death on a cross.”
Jesus did all of this for us. John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus to come and do all He said He would. As a Christian athlete, are you assisting your teammates in knowing Jesus Christ as Lord?
GO:
Who on your team can you share the Gospel with today?
How might you live your life differently “to fill valleys and smooth out crooked roads” so that your teammates might see the salvation of God?
WORKOUT:
OVERTIME:
“Dear Heavenly Father, I praise You for the great lengths You went to so I could see the salvation available to us through your Son, Jesus Christ. I pray You will use me as salt and light on my team and in my circle of influence. Please use me to show others how deep and vast Your love is and how able You are to deliver them from their sin and the darkness that accompanies it. I praise You for Your marvelous Light and Your steadfast love and mercy. In Jesus’ name, amen.”