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| Image compiled from various sources. |
Whether you’re an avid follower of English football or not, it cannot
have escaped the notice of most people that Manchester United football club are
struggling So soon after notching up another remarkable statistic under the
management of Sir Alex Ferguson, the club that had won everything is down in
the doldrums. Ferguson’s first successor, David Moyes has gone, and Louis Van
Gaal is now in charge. After a 4-0 loss to MK Dons and a goalless draw at
Burnley, the questions are still being asked. When will success return? Will
this season be as seemingly bleak as the last one?
I don’t think anyone would call me a football pundit! 4-3-3 is just a
set of numbers. What the best formation might be, I haven’t a clue. However, I
am old enough to remember what happened to this famous football club the last
time a long-standing manager retired. That manager was Sir Matt Busby, who
managed the club for 24 years, returning for a period after his retirement in
1969 to manage the club again between 1970 and 1971. I am tempted to ask, ‘Is
history repeating itself?’
The Bible has quite a few examples of history repeating itself. The
verse that comes to mind is this: ‘let him who thinks he stands take heed lest
he fall’.[1]
It is set against the background of the history of the Jews in the Old
Testament and contains the statement, ‘these things were our examples’, and, ‘they
are written for our admonition’ or warning. Have we read them, or are we making
the same mistakes?
What the Bible tells us is that the mistakes that Israel made then cost
them dearly. We cannot ignore what God says and not suffer the consequences in
some way. The Bible tells us that ‘the wages of sin is death’,[2]
a separation from God that could become eternal. If we carry on in our own way,
‘doing our own thing’, that will bring us under the judgement of God for our
sin and wilful disobedience. That same passage of scripture warns its readers, ‘let
us not tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted’.[3]
To reject Jesus Christ, and the Bible record about Him, is to tempt God. Why?
The Bible tells us that, ‘there is one God, and one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus’.[4]
To reject Christ is to turn your back upon the only way back to God from the
pathway of sin and disobedience. Peter warned his hearer, ‘Neither is there
salvation in any other’.[5]
What is your attitude toward the Bible and Jesus Christ? Are you about to make
the same mistakes that so many others have made?
