March Madness

 They call it March Madness.  For the next 3 weeks, the best college basketball teams in the nation will compete against one another. Every game is elimination,  win or go home.  There are markers along the way: Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, the Final Four and, eventually the championship game which will be played April 3 at NRG Stadium in Houston. 68 teams will compete in March Madness.  Any one of them can win.

 Basketball has become one of the most popular sports world-wide with 2.2 billion fans.  It is fast-paced, confined to a relatively small space. The basketball court is 94 by 50 feet. The net is always 10 feet from the floor.  But it is the clock that makes it exciting. The clock is ever lurking. The seconds are always ticking. Each team has 5 seconds to inbound the ball; 10 seconds to advance it past midcourt, and 30 seconds possession to take a shot. NCAA men’s games are divided into two 20-minute halves. Scoring is often rapid-fire requiring agility, stamina, strength, and speed.  

 Basketball has a way of capturing our contemporary imagination.  Life is lived fast. Life is lived against the clock. We are all seeking to get the most done in the shortest amount of time. Like basketball, we want to score the most points possible before time runs out.

 Our generation is obsessed with the clock. We just levied daylight savings time upon ourselves, losing an hour sleep to get up an hour earlier so that we can get the kids to school, hit the highways, commute to our offices and get home before dark. And then do it all over again tomorrow.

 Maybe we feel this way because we know that a more important clock is ticking.  Many believe that we are living in the “last days.” That time for humanity is running out. For the first time since 1947, the Doomsday Clock has been moved to 90 seconds to midnight.  Jesus said that no one knows the day or the hour, but the Bible is clear that there will be a consummation of the age, a time when Jesus said He would return and time would be no more.

 Like the games in March Madness, the final seconds elevate our sense of urgency.  Jesus said, “We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day.  Night is coming when no man can work,”(John 9:4).  Each of us must ask ourselves if we are ready.  

Peter wrote, “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,  looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells,” (2 Peter 3:11-12).