Projection Verses Actuality

Fantasy Football-Part 1 of 3

I recently got involved in Fantasy football and I love every bit of it, well, as long as my team is winning. Defined, Fantasy Football is, “a fantasy sports game in which participants (called "owners") are arranged into a league. Each team drafts or acquires via auction a team of real-life American football players and then scores points based on those players' statistical performance on the field.” That is fantasy quite alright-having a made up league with real players-doesn't get any fansier than that!

I have won seven games and lost three; not bad for a first time Fantasy Football Player. One of the exciting features I love about Fantasy Football is matching up my team against the other team I am playing. If my team has a higher “projection” in points compared to the other team I am playing against before game day, I feel confident in winning the match that week-my projections give me hope. However, if the other team has higher scoring projections than mine, I have the option sometimes of changing up my main player(s) with my bench players so that I can counteract the strength projection of the opposing team.

What is interesting though about the “projections” of the scores is just that-A projection-what one in anticipating to see happen. When all is said and done however, the “actual” results make all the difference-the only reality in fantasy football. My team could be projected to have higher points before the game and only get half of the projected points when they have played because they performed poorly overall. The opposite is true with the team I am playing against. If the team has a low projection before game time, but on the actual game day performs greatly, they get more points than my team, even though my team could be one of the greatest teams in the league. Isn’t that unfair? Somewhat, but not really because projections are projections and actual is actual. Only when projection leaves up to its expected reality is it worth celebrating.

I have learnt a thing or two from fantasy football in this regard: projected points do not matter, only the actual points matter. Please allow me to indulge you with my reflections as I compare fantasy football with real life.

How often in life, have we seen people project a certain kind of aura only to discover that when they play the game of life, their actual points yield a different result? Maybe we are the people who have given others a projection of ourselves when in actuality what we are exerting is contrary. Could it be that we make promises that we know we cannot fulfill? Could it be that we project confidence, but when the occasion to exercise that confidence arises, we pull back and become fearful? Could it be that we project a strong spiritual presence to others, when in actuality we do not even spend time in God’s presence, as we need to? Could it be that we project an aura of financial stability, when in reality we are up to our necks in debt? Could it be that….(fill in the blank), when in reality….(fill in the blanks)?

Jesus encountered such a dilemma in a parable He told:

And He began telling this parable: "A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. "And he said to the vineyard-keeper, `Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?' "And he answered and said to him, `Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.' “(Luke 13: 6-9)

The fig tree gave the projection that it could provide when in actuality, it could not. It gave a false sense of security. Truth be told, when one is in need, the last thing they need is to go talk to someone or seek assistance from someone who projected that they had the answer, but actuality spoke louder than words-they did not have the answers. In the parable, we see the master getting impatient with the fig tree because it was not living up to its expectations.

There are times I am tempted to drop some of my players because they are like the fig tree giving me a false sense of victory and when I need them the most, they do not perform to their projected strength! That can be frustrating.

The author of life makes it easier for us to understand one truth about projection or actuality: Abiding in Him and obeying what He has laid before us allows us to live in the actual. Doing what we want to do and them pretending to obey what He said gives the world a false projection of who we are. Unless the projected results are in harmony with the expected results, we live wasted lives. There is hope; the author of life states:

You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. (John 15:16)

How do we bear fruit that will last, yielding the results necessary, realizing He chose us and not we ourselves?

Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. (John 15:4)

"…If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." (John 8: 31-32)

In as much as fantasy football is a fun sport, stroking our egos every now and again, it is not based on actuality. Likewise, we as Christians cannot base our lives on some kind of fantasy or false sense of security. Instead we need to base our actuality in Jesus, who He is to us, and what our mission on earth is-until we see that what He has projected in us becomes actual-if we let Him. There is no fantasy life in His world!