Now I know why Dhoni did not take the 2011 World Cup Final Between India and Sri Lanka in the Wankhade Stadium to the very last over! May be, he knew half of India may have died of heart-attacks in the unbearable tension! So, he finished it off in over number 49 itself by hitting the most famous six in the World with Ravi Shastri in the commentary box saying, “Dhoni finishes off in style! A magnificent strike into the crowd! India lift the World Cup! After 28 years! The Party has started in the dressing room! And its an Indian captain who has absolutely played magnificently!” But in matches of lesser consequence (read India V Australia in Australia Bilateral series 2019), Dhoni seems to deliberately take the game to the last over! Post the Melbourne ODI which just ended (on 18 Jan 2019), he has given us Indian fans two wins in the last over in two straight ODIs! This reminds me of something – the God who waits till the “last over” of our life, to see if you and I will repent, turn our lives over to Christ who died for us on the Cross! That’s is what I make of the Bible verse I read in 2 Peter 3:9 – The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (NASB). This is not to say will live till their old age and have chance after chance to accept Christ for their salvation. Not at all. We know that is not true. This is to say that God will only allow your life to be taken only after he has given you enough chances to repent! That’s what 2 Peter 3:9 is saying! God can send sudden death into your life while you are still in sin like he did for Ananias and send you straight to hell. But he will still wait. He will still wait for the “last over” like Dhoni! [By the way, knowing the character of God from the Bible we have to say that even Ananias had enough chances to repent]. You will never know if the present chance you have to accept Christ (may be the chance you have now as you are reading this article) is the last chance! You and I will never know if the present chance we have now is the last chance we have to come out of that stubborn sin we are perhaps in, even as a believer (it could be porn-watching or pride, it could be lying or lying with someone not your spouse). Only God knows when that last chance for you to accept Christ will come (or if it has already come)! So, so why not come to him now? The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:2 to come to Jesus now as “now” – not tomorrow, not day after tomorrow – is the day of salvation! Don’t wait till the “50th over” of your life to come to Jesus Christ! Don’t deliberately wait till the “last over of your life” (you never know it if you are already in the last over of your life) to turn from sin, and put your trust in the Unique Christ”! Come now to receive a joy which the World cannot give, money cannot buy and Satan cannot take away!
(Duke Jeyaraj is the founder of Grabbing the Google Generation from Gehenna Mission – the G4 Mission – a ministry to presentday people. Find out more at www.dukev.org).
