April 6, 2020 - Consecutive Free Throws

I did a bit of research today on the best free-throw shooters in history… the Guinness Book of World Records a guy name Ted St Martin hit 5221 consecutive free throws before missing… a guy named Bob Fisher at one time made 20, 371 in 24 hours and even hit 88 straight while blindfolded… in competition (while facing the rigors of the game), the record for consecutive makes are 97 in the NBA (Michael Williams), 95 in the NCAA (Jack Davidson)… these are some amazing streaks showing amazing talent and commitment to excellence… yet they all have something in common… at some point they all missed!

Can you imagine if the requirement for making a team was to never miss? Even the guys that weren’t facing the bumps, grinds, pressure of a game, eventually broke down…

This Easter week we celebrate something that religions cannot… let me explain… religions are all trying to figure out how to please or earn favor with God (the gods.) They are based upon man being good enough… Yet the Bible reminds us that we all “miss” sometimes and don’t measure up.

Romans 3:10 states that “…there is none righteous, no not one.” Another way to say this, (based upon the definition of the word for “righteous”), is to say there is none that are guiltless or innocent. Yet, God is righteous (perfect), and requires perfection to be in relationship with Him. Therefore, religions are out of luck… “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

But God, (my favorite 2 words in Scripture), demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners (not innocent) Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

I know to most of the readers of these weekly devotions this is nothing new… but still should excite us so much that Christ entered and played a perfect game on our behalf! And if you have never trusted in that, understand that Christ did that for you too! Trust in Him as your Substitute!