The Biggest Fan

By Nancy Flory Published on October 28, 2017

Irene was a quiet grandmother. But under the Friday night lights of East Texas football one evening she let loose. When my cousin snatched the football from the opposing team’s quarterback and sprinted 87 yards for a touchdown, Irene was jumping up and down, screaming her grandson’s name every step of the way.

The atmosphere was electric. Hometown fans jumped from their seats and roared — this had never happened before. They couldn’t believe what they had just seen. The band played the victory song as fans went wild. But Irene was the biggest fan that night.

Grandmother Irene was supportive and loving, but most of all gentle and quiet. Of all the people I’ve ever known, Irene was most Christ-like. She loved her family. She had a servant’s heart. And we all knew grandma loved us unconditionally.

It was her uncharacteristic whooping and hollering that night at the football game that stands out to me. It’s something our Heavenly Father would do.

Standing on the sidelines, he’s rooting for us. “Go, go, go!” He says. “You can do it!” He’s our biggest fan.

The late Rich Mullins once said that we don’t have to try to impress God, because He’s already knocked out about us. “He already loves you more than you can imagine.”

God loves us incredibly. “It’s bizarre from our point of view,” said Mullins. “That someone could be so totally other and so completely by Himself, and yet He could want us badly enough that He would become like us in order to help us become like Him.”

He’s so “knocked out” about you and me that he gave His only son to die for our sins so that we could be with Him in glory.

He wants us to succeed, to be like Him, to know Him intimately, to be “knocked out” about Him.

That’s the message of the Bible, truly. It’s a love story (John 3:16). It’s God knowing you intimately and saying “I love you so much that I will send my son to die for you.” It’s God standing on the sidelines whooping and hollering when we get it right — and offering encouragement and direction when we don’t. Even if we don’t score, He’s still right there, cheering us on. Even when we stumble and fumble, He never boos us. He’s running down the sidelines, pushing us onward.

When we become discouraged, let’s remember to look up and see our Heavenly Father hollering our name as we race toward the end zone. He loves us. And he’s our biggest fan.

 

Heavenly Father, thank You that You love us unconditionally, completely and perfectly. Thank You that You are the perfect Father, cheering us on and loving us, even if we fumble. Help us to remember that You’ll always be our biggest fan.

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