Another shot at glory

Photo credit: sunnybankchurch.com.au

If a cat has nine lives, Manutd fans must wonder how many lives Louis Van Gaal has? All the talk was that he was on his way out, that Mourinho was his likely successor. Tabloids ran the headline, Louis van ‘Gone’! In truth it is very much Louis van ‘still here’ probably till the end of the season at the very least. Manchester United may have won the derby on Sunday but the United boss has more to do if he is to win over critics.  To most, it beggars belief that the Dutchman is still manager of Manutd. An embarrassing group stage exit in the Champion’s league, a host of ponderous displays in the premiership such as losses to Bournemouth, Norwich, Sunderland, Stoke, Westbrom have seen fans turn on the manager. A galling defeat to Mitch..mid..micha.., argh!!! Whatever that Danish team is called, was just yet another moment when the team hit an all-time low.

For all the progress that came last season, Manutd have regressed and sometimes it has been difficult to establish whether the United under Van Gaal is better than the one under Moyes. Their performances have been nothing to wax lyrical about. Former players turned pundits such as Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand, have been hypercritical in their assessment of Louis Van Gaal’s charges. Criticism has come in plenty with United being labelled; boring, soporific, one-dimensional, languid, lethargic, pedestrian, unimaginative; not quite the description that Louis Van Gaal would have of his fabled ‘philosophy’.

Too often, to the onlooker, Manunited not only lack a philosophy but an identity or when they have had one, it has been with negative connotations.  The team has been floundering, fluctuating between average and extremely bad  with a vast number of players playing well below the required levels. Much of that has been attributed to the manager given his insistence to play football his way and not by the way of the crowd. Moreover, after been given the funds to spend on new players, the manager spent it alright but not in the way fans would have hoped. The fact that he let players leave such as Chicharito, Van Persie, Nani, Evans,Rafael, Fletcher citing that United had depth seems laughable given the team has been severly depleted following an injury crisis and has had to turn to a host of youngsters, not that Marcus Rashford will be complaining.

Thus, the manager is highly culpable for United’s failings this term. The players have been underwhelming, but Louis Van Gaal cannot abdicate responsibility for such a woeful season thus far. In an era where managers take the fall, Van Gaal’s sacking seemed imminent.Except, for reasons unbeknownst to us, it just hasn’t happened.

Surely, the writing was on the wall after a woeful defeat to Stoke, nope, he stayed on. Surely the defeat to Midtjylland, (I got it right this time!)a team that had not played competitive football for months prior to that infamous first leg, would send him out the exit door. Wrong again. The United hierarchy stuck to their man. Time and time again, the Dutchman has been given another chance to reverse his side’s fortunes following a miserable display. Managers like Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez who have not enjoyed a similar fate must be watching on in envy. “Why does he get so many reprieves?”, they wonder. So do I. So do many Manutd fans who access goal.com, after another crushing defeat, expecting to see the headline in bold; OFFICIAL: LOUIS VAN GAAL SACKED; but alas; it never happens.

LVG lives the charmed life, we think. Why don’t I get pardoned like that. Why don’t I get another chance even after I fall short again and again. Well you do. In fact, you get an even bigger dose.

We always say we’re never perfect, and we delight in our humanity for that because it’s the perfect excuse when we mess up. Imperfection however, does not excuse us all the time. Sometimes we make mistakes because of our pride; sometimes we let our guard down. Sometimes it’s ignorance, other times it's a willful desire despite knowing we are wrong. When we eventually fall short of God’s holiness or goodness, surely he should punish us. Surely he should condemn us and give us what we deserve.

How many times do you fall back to your poison? How many times do you sin knowingly, in defiance to the Holy Spirit’s pleading not to sacrifice your convictions and values? How many times do you flat out ignore what scripture has to say, or correction and counsel from a person of wisdom only to end up wishing you had taken it? Too plenty to even count.

The devil gleefully rubs it in, “ A Christian doesn’t have sex outside marriage, a Christian doesn’t get wasted, a Christian doesn’t masturbate, a Christian doesn’t pay a bribe, You’re no child of God! How often, when we are stuck in the malaise of being a slave to sin such as drunkenness, addiction, pornograghy, lust, people cast pitiful glances at you, and wonder why God hasn’t put you out of your misery. You won’t improve, you won’t change, you will always be the hypocrite who keeps backsliding. You will always never measure up. 

In human thinking, if as a church we are christ’s bride, we should have been jilted at the altar  but we haven’t been. We cheat on him, again, and again but he forgives us again and again, He gives us another chance and another and another.....like Peter said he is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.(2 Peter 3:8-9).  He forgives us way more than the 70 times seven.(Matthew 18:21-22)

How fortunate we are, how privileged we serve a God so merciful to excuse us from the punishment we deserve that is eternal death but gracious to give us eternal life we scarcely deserve through Jesus his son. As we celebrate Easter, we will remember his ultimate sacrifice on the cross. We will be reminded of how God put himself to death so as that our sins couldn’t. We will be reminded why we get so many pardons, not because we deserve it but because God paid the full penalty for our mistakes on the cross.

Like Van Gaal, you seldom have to be concerned about the chants, “You’re getting sacked in the morning”. You seldom have to worry that God will give up on you. He doesn’t, he faithfully gives you another chance, and another and if you don’t have much reason to celebrate this Easter, remember God is still in the business of giving you second chances in spite of your past mistakes because of what Jesus endured on the cross.

By all means, do feel sorry that you messed up but don't dwell on past failure that you stop living in the present. Thank God for that second, third, a thousandth shot at glory and take it.  I will never tire in saying what Nelson Mandela said, " I'm not a saint, i'm just a sinner who keeps trying." That's largely due to the fact that God keeps on giving me second chances.