Terrible VAR for the Côte d'Ivoire team this evening on Matchday 2 of the African Cup of Nations. There was no appeal, and the present was punished for a past action. But what is VAR?
From the English Video Assistant Referee, hence the abbreviation VAR, this group of words is translated into French as Assistance Vidéo à l'Arbitrage. VAR therefore refers generically to video refereeing as a whole. In other words, instead of a single central referee deciding on certain actions that take place on the pitch, apart from the linesmen of course, there will be a team of three (3) people working together to review the decisions made by the central referee during the match. This team is made up of the central referee (on the pitch) and two (2) other referees who are in a room equipped with all the equipment needed to view all the events on the pitch. It is therefore based on videos of actions on the pitch. This means that all sequences, actions and facts during a football match are recorded and can be reviewed and analysed. In this way, for a past incident, VAR can decide to interrupt the match to review the incident, analyse it and penalise it if there is a foul. Whether a foul is deliberate or unintentional, VAR will penalise it. And Côte d'Ivoire paid the price with this foul on Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen in the penalty area.
Just like in a football match, there is also the use of VAR on the field of your life. Every action you make is viewed, recorded, analysed and punished. The sanction will depend on what the recording of your life shows.
Will there be foul play or not? Will you be accused or exonerated?
In the match of your life, there is also a team of three (3) people who visualise and record all your actions. They are God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit. They work together at VAR. Nothing you do escapes them. And for the actions you take today, you will be caught by God's VAR. This VAR is also irrevocable and punishing. Romans 6:23 says: "For the wages of sin is death...". Anyone caught by God's VAR practising sin in all its forms (theft, lies, duplicity, drunkenness, adultery, idolatry, fornication, masturbation...) will be punished by death.
You can live as you like today and think that nobody sees you, but let me tell you that God's VAR sees you. VAR will review your actions and judge you. You can lie to yourself and think you're doing the right thing, but the apostle Paul says in Romans 14:12: "So each of us will give an account to God for himself". Will you be guilty?
The good news
You may be guilty in front of VAR but there is still a solution in God's VAR. The good news is that, unlike VAR in football, God's VAR can erase your incriminating recordings. Yes, contentious actions in which you are identified can be cancelled by one of the referees: Jesus Christ. His role in this VAR refereeing trio is not to punish you, but to identify you as someone who needs help, a fresh start, a clean criminal record. He wants to offer you his services as a lawyer. If you accept Jesus Christ today, he will wash away all your sins with his blood that flowed on the cross of Golgotha. Without Jesus Christ in your life, the penalty for your faults recorded by the VAR will be eternal death. What will the VAR show about your life?
If you want Jesus Christ as your Saviour to take away your sins and save you, say this prayer (Say this prayer in faith and believe that Jesus Christ forgives you):
Lord Jesus Christ, I acknowledge that I have sinned against you and against God. I have done things that are not pleasing. Consciously and unconsciously, I have done wrong and I want to ask your forgiveness. I have learned from 1 John 1:9 that if I confess my sins, you are faithful and just to forgive me my sins and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I have confessed my sins to you. Forgive me and cleanse me. Because you have made me a new person, without faults and sins, I declare this:
I (pronounce all your names) accept you as my Lord and my personal Saviour. And as you say in Revelation 3:20 that you stand at the door and knock, and that if I open it, you will come into my life, today I take the decision to open the door of my life, of my heart, to you. Come in and take all the space. Do whatever you want with my life, because without you in it, I'm lost and doomed. You are now my King, my Master, my God.
Thank you for washing away my faults and making me a new person. I am saved in the name of Jesus Christ. AMEN
With these words you have entered into a covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ. You now need information sessions to identify the faults you should no longer commit. To do this, contact a local church where you live or simply get in touch with us by clicking here: I accept Jesus-Christ.
God bless you!
Message from Evangelist Zogbande O. Serge, pastor of the Evangelical church Foi et Vie Abondantes, Canaan Temple of Bingerville
THE VAR