"No Name Offense"

This is probably the only post I'll ever make about football -- but the analogy is too awesome not to pass on.

The 1972 Miami Dolphins had a perfect season - the first in NFL history. They were best known for their famous offense that included 2 future Hall-of-Famers. Their defense was equally powerful, but did not have the name recognition -- and was thus dubbed historically the "no name defense".

Paul Pierson, in his lectures on the historical development of the world Christian movement, observes an apt parallel: Christ's kingdom workers are His "no name offense".

The difference is notable: You are not on the defensive, holding the enemy back. You are on the offensive, taking God's Word into areas that belong to Him but which are held captive by the enemy. Yet you are "no name" ... for the most part, the world doesn't know you. Even within the church, many just know you generically as "the workers". You may feel you're toiling away in anonymity, and to a degree you are right.

God designed His kingdom work so that no one person can do it alone. No one person, or one church or ministry, has all the gifts and resources that God put into His body. We are interdependent, and when the job is done, we should not be able to credit any one person. Such would detract from the glory that is God's alone. Paul told the Corinthians that one plants, one waters, but God gives the increase - and the emphasis should lie on Him, and not us. The person home who faithfully gives and prays is as invaluable as the one martyred for her faith. So the "no name offense" works to guard our human tendency to glorify man and instead secures glory for God alone.

But the "no name offense" stops at the gates of heaven. Because, dear one, God knows you by name. He knows every hair on your head. He knows your struggles and identifies with your pain. He takes attacks against you very personally. Whether your role in the kingdom battle is a prayer warrior while you nurse babies or work on the farm, an encourager to co-workers as you go about your job, a pastor or Sunday school teacher ... or perhaps you are in a "foreign" land (from our perspective only, of course), trying to help a seemingly hopeless nation rebuild, or raise children in a place where you can't easily obtain Christian literature for your homeschool efforts ... or even on the front lines of church planting and street evangelism ... He knows you by name. You are anonymous only in the eyes of the world. You work for His glory, but He doesn't take your sacrifices lightly. He loves you dearly, and understands all you go through for the sake of His name.

As you exalt His name at the sake of your own, rest assured that it doesn't go unnoticed. Your "no name offense" has a powerful name in the kingdom of God ... a name for wanting to make God famous.

Press on, friends. All of heaven is cheering for you!