Thousands and thousands of basketball fans flocked to Atlanta this past weekend for the Final Four and Monday’s championship game. Louisville defeated Michigan in an exciting contest and recent Hall of Fame inductee Coach Rick Pitino concluded a storybook season.
Perhaps the greatest college basketball finish of all time took place in 1982 as sixth seeded North Carolina State team won a series of close games to reach the finals against tournament favorite Houston. After Lorenzo Charles scored on a dunk at the buzzer, a young coach named Jimmy Valvano ran around the court like an overjoyed kid. As they cut down the nets, each member of the team experienced the result of perseverance and a determination to never give up.
Ten years after that exciting season, Jimmy Valvano was diagnosed with bone cancer and became a spokesman for more important things. He talked constantly about faith and family, and he urged everyone to realize that time is precious. He encouraged people to do three things every day to get the most out of life. “You need to laugh; you need to set aside time to think about what is really important; and you need to move your emotions of joy or sorrow to cry every day.” Though he lived less than a year from his original diagnosis, Jimmy Valvano loudly proclaimed what his 1982 basketball team epitomized: “Don’t give up; don’t ever give up.”
Valvano’s motto is classic, but we all know there is a little problem in reality. Michigan did not give up on Monday night, but they still lost. Jimmy V did not give up in his fight against cancer, but he still died at age forty-seven. God wants us to have a mentality of courage and a willingness to persevere at every turn, but we will not live on this earth forever. So what is the answer for the inevitable?
“It is appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27) With so many things attempting to consume our attention, we cannot forget the critical appointment we each have. Jimmy Valvano and Rick Pitino and you and I and every other person will stand before God and be judged. We will not be judged by a boss or a committee or a council or by any human being. We will be judged by the One who created us and knows us better than we know ourselves. Each of us will see clearly His knowledge, His power, and His love. And each of us will eventually conclude that His judgment is perfect.
So we all need two things: 1) A relationship with the Son of the Judge. 2) An Advocate or Counselor. And the most important advice to prepare us for eternity: 1) Get to know Jesus more and more. 2) Be filled with the Holy Spirit. “Time is precious.”
“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:10
“Be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:18-20
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” II Corinthians 13:14
My dad turned eighty years old last week. We went to Chattanooga a couple weekends ago and gave him a picture entitled Path of Life with Proverbs 4:18 printed on it:
After returning home, I kept thinking there was something familiar about the Scripture I gave my dad. In our basement hangs a picture Susan gave me over twelve years ago. A young man is climbing a cliff looking at Jesus at the top of the mountain. The picture by C. Michael Dudash is entitled The Journey. The words of Proverbs 4:18 are written at the bottom of the print. I think Susan was reminding me with this picture that the journey is all about Jesus.