They call it “March MADNESS!” It’s that time of the year that college basketball playoffs are at the forefront of American sports. This weekend more games will be played than at any other time of the year.
Have you ever wondered why they call it “March MADNESS”? I guess part of the “madness” is for many of the colleges waiting to see if they “get picked” to participate in this “elite” tournament.
Boy that brings some memories flooding from the past. Have you ever been the “last one” picked for a game? That can be so traumatic for some kids that they will avoid that position at all costs. It can be humiliating to be last. This is an unfortunate byproduct of “competition” in our society.
When you’re the last one picked you feel like a loser. If its football that is being played then you probably won’t “touch” the ball. If it’s basketball you might get a rebound or simply be ignored, even by your own team. That is an uncomfortable place to be in.
However God has an answer He’s good at turning “losers” into winners. When He picks you, and He has, and you pick Him, and you can do that right now, then you become God’s “winner!”
There’s a fascinating story in the Bible that demonstrates this idea of losers becoming winners. The Angel of the LORD came and sat under a tree and watched while “…Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, ‘The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!’” Judges 6:11-12 NKJV
Gideon was hiding from the enemy in a “wine press” and was trying to “thresh” or clean the wheat. If he did it in the open the enemy would come and take the wheat from him that’s why he was doing it in secret. I’m sure he was startled by the Angel’s statement! Can you imagine?
From a purely human perspective we would think that Gideon was the “least likely” to win or succeed. God’s formula doesn’t work that way. The least likely plus God equals victory. That is true every time all the time.
The madness is that only “one” can win rather than “all” can win! Over the next several weeks you will see the NCAA Tournament season begin with sixty-four teams. Soon thereafter it will drop to sixteen teams. It’s the beginning of “March MADNESS!”
