For most of Notre Dame's 2024 regular season, it appeared the team's poor performance in the kicking game might be drastic enough to prevent the program from competing for its 12th national title.
Following a perfect 3-for-3 performance from starting kicker Mitch Jeter in the season opener, The Fighting Irish became the worst field goal-kicking team in the country by a substantial margin.
Plagued by many injuries to Jeter and poor showings by his backups, Notre Dame made less than one-third of its field goal attempts (5-16) over the final 11 contests of the regular season.
Shockingly, however, things have turned around significantly for Notre Dame's kicking game during the postseason.
In the three games his team has played in the College Football Playoff, Jeter has successfully converted on seven field goal attempts, with six coming from more than 40 yards away.
Of course, none of those were more consequential than his 41-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining in Thursday night's contest against Penn State, cementing the Fighting Irish's place in the National Championship Game.
Speaking to media reporters after converting on his clutch kick, Jeter commented on his topsy-turvy season by saying, "Coach [Marcus] Freeman talks a lot about delayed gratification…So it's kind of been my mindset, going through an injury, having delayed gratification now to be able to come out and give our team a chance to go win a national championship."
Despite the difficulty of enduring injuries to his hip and groin, combined with the mental challenges of overcoming a string of bad misses, Jeter continued to work on his craft, trusting that he would receive the desired results if he didn't abandon the process.
As followers of Jesus, we have particular goals regarding our faith. We all aspire to be better spouses and parents, become more knowledgeable about scripture, and increase our godly character as we progress through life.
While these desires are good, we can sometimes forget that sanctification is a process that often comes with "delayed gratification."
For instance, no one becomes an expert on the Bible because they had one excellent study session. Instead, growing our understanding of scripture is a lifelong process comprising a series of small, sometimes immediately unnoticed, steps.
But the good news is that while we may not see the desired results after a few sessions of studying the Bible, embracing the concept of "delayed gratification" will help us remain committed to our spiritual disciplines, eventually resulting in progressive sanctification in our lives.
Romans 12:2 (ESV) says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
This verse says that we are transformed as we renew our minds, which indicates that this process does not occur all at once.
In the same way, God lovingly disciplines His children so they might continue to grow and mature in their faith. Although we may not enjoy it, "delayed gratification" follows.
Hebrews 12:11 (NASB) states, "For the moment, all discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."
The Christian life requires tremendous perseverance and an intense focus on the end goal. Although our choices on any given day may not make much difference, we must trust that making godly decisions always produces the good fruit we desire.
Ultimately, even the best blessings and moments of growth we experience during our earthly lives pale in comparison to the heavenly prize that awaits us.
Though God graciously affords us a foretaste of the joy that awaits us in eternity, we will never experience anything that rivals what we will encounter when we see Jesus face to face.
With that in mind, we live here on earth with the hope of our preeminent "delayed gratification": the joy of being in the very presence of our great God.
Today, let's be encouraged to persevere in the fight and to endure in making godly decisions, knowing that the result will all be worth it.
I'm Matt Osborne, and you can UNPACK that!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please help me live with discipline and self-control. I trust that You will sanctify me as I make decisions that honor You. Teach me to keep my eyes focused on the things that truly matter most. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen.
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