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Are you living to protect the lead?

Ted Klassen

In many sports, the team that is winning a game, especially near the finish, starts to play in a way designed to protect the lead. Football has the most obvious example of this when the team that is winning will surround their quarterback and together fall into a big pile on the ground. The result is that the clock runs out, and the lead and the victory are protected. The problem is that when “protecting the lead” begins to dominate, the game becomes boring and uninteresting and the fans head for the exits.

For many Christians, the problem is the same. They live their lives as if the goal of the Christian life is to “protect the lead”. They develop a kind of “hang on till Jesus comes” mentality. Consequently, the Christian life becomes boring and uninteresting. Jesus never meant for us to live our lives like that.

Look at the life of Jesus and you see someone who had a goal and refused to let anyone deter Him from reaching it. When Jesus was told Herod wanted to kill Him, He said “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ . . . for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!” (Luke 13:32-33). Jesus’ goal was to give His life on the cross of Calvary.

There came a time when Jesus was tempted to “protect the lead”. On Palm Sunday, the crowds followed Jesus shouting, “Hosanna! . . . Blessed is the King of Israel!” Even Jesus’ enemies said, “Look how the whole world has gone after Him!” (John 12:13, 19). Jesus could have tried to protect His popularity. He went into the garden of Gethsemane and prayed: “My Father if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me.” But then He continued, “Yet not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). In accepting the “cup”, Jesus was giving up His “lead” of Palm Sunday in order to die for the forgiveness of our sins.

Jesus reached His goal, and the God of Love rewarded Him by raising Him from the dead and giving Him the power of an indestructible life (Hebrews 7:16). That is a “lead” that needed no protection. In the same way Jesus wants His followers to realize that, “Whoever loses his life for Me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35).

Cassie Bernall was one of the 12 students killed in the shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. At 14, Cassie was a rebellious teenager who was into drugs and black magic and was contemplating suicide. Her parents decided to enroll her in a Christian school and send her to a church youth group. At a Christian retreat, Cassie accepted Christ, and her life was transformed. She became a bright, happy girl who wanted to rescue some of her old friends from the drug culture she herself used to be in. Finally she insisted on leaving her Christian school. “I have to go to the public school,” she told one friend, “to be a witness for Jesus to those kids.” She decided not to protect the new “lead” in life the Lord had given her but to focus on the goal of being a witness for Jesus. Then came 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, April 20, when two killers entered the Columbine High School library and asked Cassie, “Do you believe in God?” Cassie answered, “Yes,” and they shot her through the head.

Did Cassie Bernall’s life on earth accomplish the goal of being a witness for Jesus? Time magazine on May 31, 1999 reported in a two-page article that Cassie’s life had sparked a revival among thousands of teens, many coming to Christ for the first time.

Are we as Christians living to “protect the lead” by playing it safe so we can keep what we have? Or do we have the goal of being witnesses for the Lord Jesus, who has given us a victory we can’t lose?

Ted Klassen is senior pastor of Hyde Creek Community Church in Port Coquitlam, B.C.

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Last modified May 17, 2000.

© 2000 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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