IPSWICH Town FC now have a new manager, the unpredictable and fiery Roy Keane. There is excitement in the air.
What is it about new management that lifts a football club, a nation, a school, or any group of people, to heightened levels of expectation?
There is usually a feeling of disappointment with the failings of the old order, and a real longing for ho
pes and aspirations to be met by the new leaders.
Coming under new management though is not just a collective experience. It can be significantly individual as well.
This is very evident in the life of someone experiencing a Christian conversion to Jesus Christ. In coming to know him, it can truly be said that they have come under new management.
A clear example of this is to be found in that great English classic, Pilgrim’s Progress.
As newly-converted Christian travels along, he is suddenly confronted by a hideous monster called Apollyon (a companion of the devil). Apollyon tells him that he belongs to him and commands him to return to the old ways.
Christian’s reply is most revealing: “I have given myself to another, even to the King of Princes [Jesus] how then can I return with you?”
In other words, he was saying: “I am under new management.”
In dealing with this very same subject, the apostle Paul put it like this: “God has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.”
Roy Keane has a reputation of being a no-nonsense captain and boss. Those who submit to his leadership follow his commands.
Likewise, those who choose to submit to Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords obey his words.
They live under his new management.
