Every summer, NFL teams fill up their rosters with returning players, new free agents, and rookies. All of them (except perhaps the superstars) have one goal in mind…make the team!

Throughout the preseason, teams can keep up to 90 players and those guys are all fighting for a spot on the regular season 53-man roster. Right now coaches and the front office are making their final decisions on what players they’ll cut before the deadline on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. EST.

This has to be the worst couple of days in the NFL season, as players hear the news they didn’t make the team. Unfortunately, for many of them, it signals the end of their dream and the football part of their life is over.

As bad as this sounds for the players who have the door closed on their NFL career, it’s also the beginning of their next phase of life and the start of something new. It’s not the plan they had, but it could be the beginning of a different path…and maybe even a better one.

In life, there’s a clear principle that something old has to end if we’re going to experience a new opportunity. With that said, it’s hard for football players to embrace that and we struggle with it as well.

We all know how hard it is when something good ends – especially when it means we’ve been cut or fired.

I’ll never forget when my football dream came to a close after I was cut from the middle school team! It was painful and disappointing but God used the end of that dream to send me down a path of ministry and prepare me for the dream He had for me.

Truth be told, having something end for something new to begin, is critical in our faith journey and is actually the starting point.

My favorite band Thousand Foot Krutch has a song called, “The End is Where We Begin.” The title sums up the reality that when we choose to follow Jesus, our former life ends and our new life with Him begins.

Galatians 2:20 (NLT) says, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

We must get to the point where we realize the end of ourselves and the self-centered life is where a Jesus-centered life begins. When we finally end our old life of pursuing the world and chasing after selfish things, it’s when the new selfless, Christ-like life begins for us.

Ephesians 4:22-24 (NLT) tells us to “…throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.”

This is when addiction ends and freedom begins. This is when hopelessness ends and hope begins. And as followers of Jesus, we know when life on earth ends, eternity with Jesus begins.

With that in mind, we can confidently go along our journey knowing that whether we get “cut” or our previous dreams end, we don’t have to remain discouraged or disappointed.

Instead, we can know that when something ends, it’s just the beginning of God doing something new in us and through us.

On those tough days when we doubt that or we’re waiting for Him to show us what’s next, let’s remember what 1 Peter 5:10 (NLT) declares:

“In His kindness, God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation.”

I’m Bryce Johnson and you can UNPACK that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for the doors You’ve closed and the ones You’ve opened in my life. Thank you for the new life I have because of Jesus and for allowing me to leave my former life behind. Thank you for being with me when my old dreams died and for the new dreams and opportunities You’ve given me. Thank you for placing me on a firm foundation. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR PACKS:

  1. What has your experience been like in being cut or fired?

  2. How has God filled your life with new opportunities and dreams when something previously ended?