Late Hit

Romans 12:17-21
Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

In high school, one of my activities was football.  I can remember many, many instructions that coaches would instill in us. Some a little more than others. One of the rules I remember was, "If someone hits you after the whistle blows, take it." This would sometimes result in a penalty against the team doing the late hitting, but not always.

Being a lineman, we had certain missions. First, find the football. Second, destroy the man who had the football. Third, and never really taught but certainly a rule, if anyone sucker punches or basically whips you in your position...seek and destroy. I can remember getting hammered by a sucker hit on a play and recording the guys number in my mind. I knew there would come a time when he wasn't paying much attention to me. You see I was lining up across from him the whole game.  So every play he knew where I was and what was expected. Until coached called for second string kickoff team.  Finally, my turn! I scanned the field and found him in my sights (all the way on the other side).

Now my position I was in didn't call for me to block him. So rules number one and two were not in effect.  No, rule number three had become my top priority! The ball was away and so was I. I was running as fast as I could. He was looking back to where the ball was fielded, which was on the other side of the field from him. (I hope you are getting this... The ball was kicked to my side of the field and I could have been in on a genuine tackle but I was on the other side of the field fulfilling my mission three) No one was on our side now, just me and him.  He was blindly running toward his ball carrier when out of the blue... BAM! The greatest and hardest hit all night! Justice has now been served! I said nothing. I just stood over him with that "Remember me?" glare.

Then that's when it happened... A bright yellow flag hit me in my helmet. The referee was shouting something about unsportsmanlike conduct, you know how crazy those zebras can be. If he would have only known the whole story. This guy cheap-shotted me first! As I was coming off the field, now my coach is yelling at me and asking me why in the world would I do something so stupid. "But coach, he had it coming. He hit me first."

This morning maybe you've recorded the number of the one who has done you wrong. Maybe you're lined up against them right now and you're thinking of a way to retaliate. Allow Christ to move upon your heart right now. Give the hurt and pain to Him. Don't be charged with a late hit. Believe me, It's not worth the fifteen yards or standing on the sidelines the rest of the game because you couldn't control your temper. God can handle them as well as you.