Complete the handoff!

It’s pretty common knowledge that one of the most treacherous aspects of an Olympic relay race is the hand off of the baton.  I’ve watched teams in the past during my college years working on the relay and while one would typically think that they’d spend all of their time running and getting faster, a relatively disproportionate amount of time is spent somewhat slowly, working on the hand off.

The same is true in football.  Quarterbacks and running backs spend a lot of time ensuring that they can complete a handoff without fumbling the exchange.

As I read this week through Numbers 36, Deuteronomy 1 – 6, Psalms 3 – 9, and 1 Chronicles 2 – 8, the concept of making sure not to mess up the handoff struck me, particularly as I covered Deuteronomy 6.  Through much of these passages, whether it was talking about genealogies (Chronicles) or reminders that Moses was giving the people about God’s provision and intervention (through much of Deuteronomy thus far), it was clear that the concept of completing the handoff was critical.  And in much the same way as with relay teams and football backfields, it’s something at which we must work to perfect lest we fumble.

In Deuteronomy 6, Moses is giving some final messages to the Israelites near the end of his life and ministry.  One of THE most well-known, quoted, and regarded passages in the Bible comes during this part of his sermon.  It’s known as the “Shema” in Hebrew, which opens up verse 4, and means “hear” or “listen”.  Verses 4 through 6 are certainly worth a read when you have time, and probably to committing to memory.  While I believe these are incredibly pivotal, in this message I want to focus on the following verses, 7 through 9.  In order to set the stage, however, let’s see what Moses says in verses 4 through 6 of chapter 6 …

“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.  And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.  And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.

This is the first part of the handoff.  It’s like the preceding leg of the relay, or the snap from the center to the quarterback in football.  If you don’t get that part right, the next step can’t happen.  In this case, note that Moses is making clear the first principles of faith.  Very straightforward facts … there is one God and one God alone … our responsibility (a personal one that we alone can acknowledge, receive and carry out) is to love Him with all our being … and we must commit to being the type of people that spend our life in pursuit of that standard (while we must acknowledge of course that we can never attain it).  Without those precedent steps, no next step is possible.  What is the next step?  The handoff (verses 7 – 9) …

Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.  Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders.  Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

If and only if we are able to run the preceding leg of the race, to cleanly get the snap from the center, are we able then to handoff the baton to the next leg or the ball to the running back.  What does this mean?

It means to pass along the first principles to following generations.  Of course, we must first have the principles to pass along, but then we’re to “repeat them again and again.”   We’re to “talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road.”  Of course, we can’t talk about something we know nothing of, so the first part is to make sure we know from whence we speak.  Knowing, following, modeling God’s Word is the way we “love Him with all our heart, soul and strength.”  Just as a runner can’t pass a baton that’s been dropped, or a quarterback can’t hand off a ball that’s been fumbled at the snap, we can’t handoff faith we haven’t developed.  But once we do, the natural and following step is to pass it along.

This week, let’s ask the Lord in prayer to reveal anywhere we are not cleanly getting through the first step.  Let’s ask Him to root out anywhere we aren’t being faithful, where we aren’t allowing His love to not only permeate our soul, but to emanate from us.  Then, let’s ask Him to equip us to faithfully and reliably handoff that faith … whether to our kids (if we have them), to our friends, to our neighbors, to strangers we encounter in the myriad situations daily, and so on.  Doing any less is, by definition, fumbling.

Blessings in the strong and reliable name of Christ Jesus,

MR