The Scoreboard
You have more time.
The game should have been decided. It wasn’t. Forty minutes of regulation, four quarters, nine innings — whatever the format — and the score is still tied and you have been given extra time to settle it. That is not an accident. It is a gift and it is a test.
Read this passage slowly.
“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.”
Matthew 25:21 — NIVLet that sit for a second before you move.
You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. The servant who was faithful in the ordinary watch was given the extraordinary responsibility. The faithfulness in regulation — the sustained, consistent, competitive investment through forty minutes or nine innings — earned you the overtime. You are here because you were faithful when it would have been easier not to be.
Overtime is not a fresh start. It is the continuation of something you earned. The team that played well enough to force extra time takes that quality of play into it. The tiredness is real — both teams are tired. The team that has been competing with genuine investment through regulation has more to draw on in overtime than the one that has been conserving.
One thought and then go: you have been faithful with what regulation asked for. Now go be faithful with what extra time asks for. One possession at a time. The same way you got here.
You are here because you were faithful when it would have been easier not to be. Take that quality of play into extra time. One possession at a time.
No discussion. Go compete.
This devotional should take under five minutes. It is activation, not reflection. End it immediately and let the team prepare for overtime.
Go. One possession at a time. You earned this.
This is one of the briefest devotionals in the library. It is not for post-game reflection. It is for the two minutes between regulation and overtime. Keep it under five minutes total.