Thank you, Jesus, it all started with you

A while ago, a Spanish football league player, Gerald Piqué, said the following words: Thanks Kevin Roldan, it all started with you. These words, said in the middle of celebrations of his team, FC Barcelona, winning the title, in spite of seeming of gratitude, provoked major controversy in sporting media in Spain. Why?

Because the words referred to a singer that the arch-rival’s star, Cristiano Ronaldo, hired in a private party. As Gerard deduced, that was the first football failure of Real Madrid of that season. As a Real Madrid supporter, these words don’t sit well with me, but neither, by the way, do they take me away from the dream. I don’t know if the FC Barcelona player was right in pointing out that party as the start of the failure of Real Madrid, but his words made me think about something more important than football: my own life.

I can’t fool anyone. There are successes in my life, but also many failures.

And I’m not just talking about something that didn’t go how I hoped it would. I’m talking about things that come out of me and I don’t like them: bad temper, inappropriate words, bad thoughts… Where does that come from? What is its origin? How good it would be to be able to identify the root of the problem or a breakdown to be able to reach the solution. Reading the Bible I am able to understand the main cause, the initial cause of the bad things that are inside me. It’s called sin. There is something inside me that brings me to do things that aren’t good. Paul’s letter to the Romans tells us that “sin entered the world through one man: Adam”.

We can ironically say: Thanks, Adam, it all started with you.

But if we continue reading the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, in the Bible, he also says: “For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ”. Jesus came to revert the effects of sin. He was the only one who could live a perfect life, without any sin. He decided to do the right thing, He died on the cross in place of those who wanted to accept Him and He resurrected to prove that His life defeated death.

If you believe this in your heart and recognise that you are a sinner and you can’t undo your failures, wrongs and sin by yourself, then all that’s left for you to say to Him is: Lord, forgive me, save me and create a new life in me that favours good and goes towards victory and not towards failure. If you do it, like I did two decades ago, you will celebrate the new life that Christ offers you and you will be able to say with a thankful heart:

Thanks, Jesus, it all started with you.

Israel Montes is a Evangelical Religion teacher in Spain, and leads the Youthwork in his church in Ponferrada (Spain).