Monday night vs. Sunday morning…
Growing up and living in the south, it is very hard to be me. I get very little to NO enjoyment out of organized sports of any kind, and a direct result of that is that I am often looked at as a kind of societal and mental pariah. I mean — com’on! What sort of red-blooded, American male (from the SOUTH, no less) does not love to watch football?!?!?!
Well, in a word: me.
It is kind of strangely humorous - I often have guys that come up to me and without fail the following conversation takes place:
Guy: “Hey! Man, did you see that game last night?”
Me: (a quizzical look passes over my features) “Er, no. What game?”
Guy: “You know, the Aberdeen Aardvarks vs. the Quebec Quetzalcoatls! Wow - what a third quarter…”
Me: (blank stare replaces the quizzical look) “Er, no. I don’t watch X-ball.”
Guy: “Oh! You must be a Y-ball, fan then, huh? Well, what about that match between –”
Me: (shaking my head to indicate the negative) “No. I don’t watch sports at all.”
Guy: (now, my blank look has leaped over to his face and is plastered there like a frightened monkey) “Wha?!? Well, what in the world DO you do?”
It is really odd (to me), but it is as if it has never entered into the mind of the person to whom I am speaking that anyone in the world would not be as enthralled and engrossed with sports. I often get the feeling that if I told one of these individuals that I was from an alien planet that had never heard of sports until my arrival on this world, that they would be more inclined to believe me. As I said, it is very odd…
Don’t get me wrong - not everyone I speak to is like this - lots of folks are not, in fact. However, the vast majority of males in my home state live, breathe and drink sports. It is this very fervor that drives me to write this post, in fact. I often wonder how much work could be done for the kingdom of God if that same fanatical energy (not necessarily the mindless pursuit mind you) was focused instead on our eternal reward and the great commission that we’ve been given here on earth. Imagine folks getting so excited about Jesus that they want to brave any and all manner of weather conditions, stand in long lines and arrive at church well before the service begins - - - just to hear his word preached! Imagine folks buying season tickets at insane prices to the front pew at church just so they can see the pastor better, or hear the choir with more clarity… What sort of world would we live in?
Don’t get me wrong, true believers, I know that there are brothers and sisters of the faith just like this; many, in fact, are those who have recently been born again and are in the throws of their “first love” of Christ. In a country where countless churches are frozen in their faith, or as Ted Dekker says, slumbering in their Christianity, this lack of voiced or expressed passion is becoming more and more of a rare occurrence within the confines of the Body of Christ.
I guess I’m just whining. 
I guess I just wish that Christ was as important to everyone as is the latest update at Espn.com.
Wow, well, I understand that one…I play soccer, but I can’t name to you a lot of the soccer pros, unless I sat here and really thought over what I’ve heard from the other guys. Not my cup of tea.
Also, yes, that’d be a radically different world–for one thing, I’d like to be the guy who gets the revenue from those tickets.
Yet, I think our concept of how Christ did things–and expects us to do things–has a large influence on what we think of it. Often we picture a very placid man, who slowly extends his hand to touch a person and say (in the flattest tone possible), “Grace be with ye, my child.” I’d go nuts if I had to duplicate that every day. Instead, if we think of a man who laughs with the “Sons of Thunder”, enjoys a cook meal under the stars, and knows how to fare the rough seas with a bunch of roudy fishermen…just without the sinful acts…we get a really cool guy. Just think of witty, kind-hearted person, who yet has the capacity to be serious and finds use for His wrath (without acting unseemly)–you have a general picture of Christ the man.
Of course, add in the miracles and divine ability to forgive men without being considered insane by all who heard, then you have those elements that are supraman–superman. Yet, we find Jesus promising to enable us to do those same tasks (not just the morality)…then we find ourselves promised to live really cool lives that draw comments like, “He’s a nice guy, but I think he’s TOO good…”; “Wow! He’s hillarious, and I haven’t heard a joke with a cuss word yet…”; “Did you see that?! He just prayed over that guy and he’s standing again…didn’t I see that (praying) dude laughing and having FUN at the coffee shop last night?”
See, we dichotomize the issue into either head-long pleasure seeking or heavy rituals. Often we swing from both as we find ourselves frustrated in the fruitless results, slowly finding our faith undermined by our failure, not God’s. We say, “If I can’t raise the dead today, then God doesn’t do miracles anymore”…totally, taking the context of what He was telling us. Actually, we’re just following Simon the Sorcerer, hoping to bribe God for His gifts (Acts 8:20-24).
Sadly, this is too often the direction I wander…
May the Lord lend us grace to empower us in our weakness. “My grace is sufficient for you; in weakness I (the Lord) am made strong.”
Comment by Tsidkenu — June 7, 2006 @ 12:55 am