Don’t see the audio player? Click here.
Tom Landry, former coach of the Dallas Cowboys, led his teams to 20 consecutive winning seasons. He won 2 Super Bowls, 5 NFC championships, and 13 divisional titles. When he was once asked to define a successful coach, he said, “A coach is someone who gets his men to do what they don’t want to do in order to be what they always wanted to be.” That is a little like the way God deals with us. We read in Hosea chapter 11 that God said of ancient Israel, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt. But the more I called to him, the more he rebelled. I led Israel along with my ropes of kindness and love.” Yet despite all His goodness, God says, “They don’t truly honor me.” God then declared that because that nation rejected Him, they would go into exile. There, God would discipline them, refine their character as a nation, but He would not permanently abandon them—because of His promise to their ancestor, Abraham. Well, just as God would keep his promise to Abraham, He will also keep His promise to His own Son Jesus. He promised His Son that all who repent and accept His Son as their Savior would receive eternal life. Of course, God will discipline His children who go astray, but He will not abandon them.
