Sport: Consistently inconsistent

If you watch as much sport as me, you will surely have long ago come to the same conclusion that I have: sport can be very confusing.

Last month, I wrote about the crucial importance of consistency throughout the hectic schedule during the festive period, and this has been seen again this year; Liverpool have gone through the gears to open up a six-point gap with a game in hand, while challengers Arsenal and Chelsea faltered, and at the other end of the table, teams who have not found form are starting to be cut adrift.

However, the festive schedule has once again also thrown up its usual array of crazy matches and shock upturns and slumps in form across the country, thrilling and surprising in equal measure, and this all highlights how unpredictable sport can be.

We have seen Manchester United not win in four before gaining a creditable draw at Anfield, having been inches from winning late on. Ipswich Town, who have struggled for points all season, got a vital win against Chelsea just after Christmas, who themselves are now winless in four, having recently been touted as potential title challengers.

North of the border, after winning ten of their first 11 games, Aberdeen have since failed to win any of their next ten, while Rangers have just one win from their last five matches. Inexplicably, that win came against first-placed, high-flying Celtic. You just couldn’t make up the bizarre runs of form we see on a regular basis during a season.

We see similar trends in other sports: tennis players often inexplicably lose form and cannot win for weeks on end out of nowhere; golfers suddenly lose their feel off the tee or around the greens (just ask Justin Thomas!); and snooker players start to lose the cue ball. Everywhere you look, the only thing that tends to remain consistent across a season is the inconsistency which plagues everyone eventually.

We have all probably taken years off our lives endlessly trying to determine how our favourite sports stars can be so good and then so bad and vice versa. And let’s be honest, if history tells us anything, sport is likely to be just as inexplicably inconsistent this year as it was last year. That’s why we watch it, I suppose.

How reassuring then, that outwith the sporting arena, as we get into our routines again and get settled into 2025, we have a God who is unchanging and everlasting, who does not get up or down, lose focus or fade away.

The moods of so many sports supporters largely depend on the success of their favourite athletes or teams, and this bodes for a very up-and-down life, full of incredible highs, but also some horrible lows. Furthermore, I can tell you from experience as a long-time sports fan, that the feelings that come with the lows tend to last longer than the highs accrued from winning.

Let’s remember then to praise our everlasting God as we move into another year, eternally grateful for the fact that we can rely upon His certainty and consistency which will never depart from us throughout 2025 and forevermore.