The College Football Playoff Selection Committee revealed their latest rankings earlier this week, and the top four teams are Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson, and Ohio State.

The Committee’s process to determine the rankings, and ultimately select who will compete in the Playoff, is quite fascinating.

The group watches football all year long in the pursuit of deciding how good certain teams are and how they compare to others. They consider the strength of schedule, conference wins, dominating performances, comparative outcomes of common opponents, the eye test, number of games actually played, and conference strength.

Of course, winning is important, but how you win, when you win, and who you win against are all factors.

In every game, teams attempt to do their best to be recognized and prove they are worthy to be selected by the Committee for the final playoff, and for an opportunity to be the National Champion.

It’s tough for teams like Texas A&M, Florida, and Cincinnati who are on the outside looking in, wondering if they can do enough at this point to make it.

This provides an interesting parallel to our own lives. I believe some of us view ourselves as a college football team, and God as the Playoff Committee. We either think we can never do enough to be worthy of making it into His family or we spend our whole lives trying to prove our own greatness.

Some of us have convinced ourselves that a “loss” earlier in life prevents us from having a strong enough resume for God to notice us. We may even believe that to get a higher “ranking” and love from God, we need to perform in a way that shows we are better than others.

I’m humbled and amazed that God’s grace doesn’t work that way. We can never do enough to earn salvation, so thankfully, that’s where Jesus comes in. He lived the perfect life, died on our behalf, and rose again so we can receive God’s grace and eternal life.

When we surrender to Him and understand it’s all about what’s been done for us and not about doing enough good works for Him to notice, we live freely – knowing we’ve already been selected.

In view of this amazing reality, our lives reflect the transformation Jesus is doing in us and through us. It does matter how we live, but we aren’t obeying God in order to be accepted. We are obeying Him because we’ve already been accepted.

The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT), “God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”

College football fans are boasting today because their favorite team was given a certain ranking by the Selection Committee, based on how well they’ve performed this year.

As we think about this, let’s thank God He offered us His grace through Jesus, and we don’t have to worry about being good enough to be selected…or ever being left out.

I’m Bryce Johnson and you can UNPACK that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I know that I’m not worthy of Your grace, but I thank you for sending Jesus to save me. I’m grateful I don’t have to perform because salvation is a free gift. Help me to remember this and live a life that is honoring to You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.