Day 1: Not Good Enough

By Pastor Javan Shashaty

On a warm fall day in South Florida, I took the snap and dropped back to pass. It was my junior season of high school football and it was the biggest game of the year: homecoming. The game was close and we needed one touchdown to pull ahead and win in the fourth quarter. I saw my open receiver running across the middle of the field, but as soon as I let the ball go, I immediately regretted it. A defender had been watching my eyes the whole way and jumped right in front of my receiver. The pass was intercepted and we lost the game.

At that moment, I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. I had let my coaches, teammates, and all the people who came to watch the game down. But, this was a pivotal moment for me in my journey as a football player. My coach pulled me aside after the game and said, “It is not your fault we lost the game. We all did poorly today. We all have to own our part in it. We just weren't good enough to win.” I had to realize that the way our team had played that day was not good enough to win the game. Plain and simple. And that truth hit me like a linebacker that day: “We did not play good enough to win.”

Coming to that realization pushed me to be a better football player that day. But you know what? Every one of us needs to come to that same realization about our lives as well. In fact, you cannot fully embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ until you accept that reality!

Romans 3 tells us that in the game of life, we cannot possibly play good enough to win. We just can’t. And that might sound drastic, but it’s the truth. Why? Romans 3:11 (NIV) says, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God."

Nothing we can say or do will ever be good enough to win the game. You might live a great life, make a difference in the world, and be loved by all who knew you. But at the end of the day, when you breathe your last breath, you will stand before Jesus. And the Bible says that all those accomplishments won’t matter. They will not be enough to win. They won’t be good enough. Why? Because as Romans 3:23 (NIV) tells us, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and as Romans 6:23 (NIV) explains, "the wages of sin is death."

So, what can be done? How can we find victory? How good is good enough? Find out tomorrow on day two . . .