Last fall, the University of Nebraska football team (where I coach) led the nation in second-half comeback wins. Who doesn’t love a comeback?
To me, great comebacks signify way more than the bragging rights or victories that come with them. I believe God himself loves a great comeback, because He’s woven it into the fabric of life by enabling us to have a relationship with Him.
The only way to grow close to God is to be a “comeback kid.”
After Adam and Eve sinned, everyone was sentenced to spiritual death. We all inherited a sin nature so destructive and rebellious that we could not have fellowship with our Holy Father. Much like a huge deficit in a game, all hope seemed lost. But God loved us so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to be the sacrificial payment for our sin. While every person was on a death march to hell, Jesus died for us and rose from the dead, covering our trespasses and uniting us once again with our Father.
That’s the Gospel. Anyone who trusts in Jesus dies in the flesh and is born again into new life, becoming a “comeback kid.”
God wants to show His love to men and women all over the planet by revealing the sacrifice of Jesus. This amazing comeback story is etched throughout Scripture, and we also get to discover the Gospel through modern-day parables like marriage, family, animals, seeds, soil, weather—even sports. There’s a reason great comeback stories of teams or an individual recovering from an injury resonate so much with us. They delight our souls because God uses those stories to remind us how he quenched our spiritual thirst by bringing us from death to life.
In every great comeback story there is bad news first. Anguish comes before restoration.
A well-known story from Genesis is that of Joseph. God used this Old Testament precursor of the Gospel to remind the Israelites that he would eventually bring them out of slavery and death and into new life.
Joseph faced more than his fair share of bad news. Out of jealousy, his older brothers kid-napped him and sold him into slavery, where his severe trials led to false accusations, trouble and eventually imprisonment in the Egyptian empire.
That leads us to a couple other principles of all great comeback stories: God is totally in con-trol even when situations look like they’re spiraling into chaos; and the deeper God allows the hole of despair to go, the more glorious the ensuing comeback becomes.
Joseph appeared to be hopeless and utterly alone, but God was setting the stage for a dra-matic comeback.
As followers of Jesus, you and I have to understand that we are "comeback kids." We came from death to life through Christ, and now God wants to use us and our stories like magnets to bring others to Him, just like he did with Joseph.
Joseph faced innumerable trials en route to his glorious resurrection of improbably becoming second-in-command in the Egyptian empire. Despite the harsh treatment he endured for years, he knew God was in charge of every moment. He was trained to think well, operate with poise and never give up, even willing to give every ounce of glory to his Heavenly Father.
He was ready to be a “comeback kid.”
Joseph’s statement to his brothers in Genesis 50:20 (ESV) after his release from prison illus-trates another key component to all great comebacks: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
On this side of eternity we know that some comeback efforts come up short. But God does not define a comeback victory from an earthly score or result. He looks at the heart. Hebrews 11 reminds us that men and women living in the Spirit of God had their comebacks end in brutality. Stephen was a "comeback kid" who died a martyrs’ death (Acts 7). With every earthly death or trial there is a comeback breath of life that comes from Christ’s resurrection and powerfully ignites Christ-centered revivals across the planet.
In the midst of dark times—whether it’s during a game or in a life situation—understand that God created you specifically for that moment, no matter how out of control it might seem. He wants to use you to reveal the most important news of all—the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the source of all great comeback stories—for the whole world to be inspired.
After all, who doesn’t love a great comeback story?
Originally Published: September 2013