I’m not an avid sports fanatic. Perhaps it’s because, being from Philadelphia, PA, there’s not a preponderance of First Place professional sport team trophies in the City of Brotherly Love’s trophy case to brag about.
But . . . ranked to finish last at the beginning of the baseball season . . . the Philadelphia Phillies somehow miraculously won the National League Pennant, and now are battling it out with the Houston Astros in the World Series! . . . maybe pigs do fly 😊
There are no First Place trophies on my shelf . . . or Second, Third, or Fourth . . . although somewhere there may lie a long-discarded childhood conciliatory ‘Participant’ ribbon 😊
It’d be easy to accept that qualifies me for a ‘Loser’ ribbon in a culture where ‘Winners’ are worshiped and Second Place is regarded as just the first to lose . . . except for a ‘counter-cultural’ statement Matthew was inspired to jot down some 2,000 years ago in Chapter 20, verse 16,
“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
What!!!
How ‘unfair’ of the wealthy landowner to pay the guys whom showed up last and worked for only an hour to be paid the same as those who toiled all day.
And what about the thief on the cross? Talk about unfair! . . . a criminal scoundrel up until his last moments, he finally comes clean, fesses up, and hears the soul saving words that pardon and heal him forever,
“I tell you the truth, this day you shall be with Me in paradise.”
Truth be known, I’m no stranger to having shown up late and still receive full-time benefits. Regrettably, the label ‘criminal scoundrel’ is no stranger either.
But . . . because of my Abba’s utterly undeserved, unfathomable forgiveness, love and ‘Unfair Grace’, I’m no longer a stranger, criminal scoundrel, or ‘Loser’.
Because of His ‘Unfair Grace’, Heaven’s trophy case only contains ‘Winners’ and First Place trophies each inscribed with the date and name of each man, woman and child who one day came clean, fessed up, accepted and heard Jesus assure their soul,
“I tell you the truth, this day you shall be with Me in paradise.”
For the first time in a long time, I’m mildly optimistic the Philadelphia Phillies may actually win the World Series. I’m completely certain, in spite of all my many foibles and failures, I’ll forever remain His beloved child, and ‘Unfair Grace’ has won life’s World Series for me.
Keep Looking Up . . . His Best is Yet to Come!
Go Phillies!
Abba's Art 
This “first shall be last” verse was the subject of discussion for our youth group last Wednesday. It has been on my mind all week. I loved hearing your thoughts about it and how God is making it applicable to you. It is so awesome the way God uses His Word to build us up and then allows us to bless others with it. Thanks, brother!
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Amen brother, so true! Praise the Lord and let’s go Phillies! Although we are all ‘losers’ in this world, we are ‘winners’ by His grace, mercy and love with the best being yet to come!
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