Superbowl XLIX was one of the best that I’ve ever seen. I enjoyed the back and forth instead of a lop-sided rout. Many people are ripping Pete Carroll for the last Seahawk play call of a pass rather than a Marshawn Lynch run. And considering the odds, it would seem that a run would have been a better choice. But if New England’s Butler had been a tenth of a second later to the ball, the Seahawks would have been victorious. And instead, Pete Carroll would have been considered a gutsy coach, who caught the Patriots off-guard.

Yes, the choice had huge ramifications, but compared to the decisions you and I make every day which have eternal significance, it was a small choice. Every time I choose to be independent of the Lord Jesus, I am choosing to sin against the holiness of God. Jesus Christ had to die for those choices so you and I could have a relationship with Him. Pete Carroll’s decision only caused his team and fans to be hugely disappointed. Your sin and mine offend the holiness of God!

Be holy, for I am holy.”¹⁷ And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;¹⁸ knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. (1 Pet. 1:16-19 NKJ)

Do you see the difference?

May we always keep an eternal perspective, even in the disappointments of life.