There was a time when sports consumed my life especially football. I can recall myself writing down NFL team’s schedules and picking my predictions for the weeks to come. After years of watching football I remembered names of the players and their positions, I kept up on news trades, and played fantasy football. I bought all the sports video games. Come Sunday afternoon I was glued to the games that played, but then one day that all changed. It was twelve years of watching football and keeping track of transactions. (A side note is that I also did the same for Hockey, Basketball, College Basketball, and College football.) I had a serious problem because like I said before it consumed my life. Back in 2010 I woke up one Sunday morning and I didn’t really have an interest in sports. What I mean is, yes I caught a game here in there, but I didn’t follow it like the last 12 years. I mean I could miss a game and not feel completely mortified because everyone else is talking about. I am not trying to say that I don’t like sports anymore, but what I am saying is that I don’t need or have to watch them. Yesterday was the Super bowl and the world was watching. The Ravens vs. The 49ers it sounded like a great game, but I didn’t feel the need to throw this big Super bowl party and watch it. I am not sure if this is still talked about, but I heard a couple years ago about them talking about making Super bowl Sunday a holiday. I guess can’t see how this makes any sense. The question is should I be like everyone else and cheer for two teams that will work there hardest to win the game, so they can ultimately make more money?
If we did all that we could every Sunday to celebrate Jesus like we do the Super bowl or other sports events maybe this world would be different. Of all those years of drowning myself in sports I wish I knew Jesus Christ like I do now. But I can’t change that now, but what I can do is be more focused on him. The point to sports is entertainment, and for the players it’s a dream job (this is because their income becomes more than most people’s career salary.) I can’t say it isn’t true, but I don’t believe God really cares if you make a touchdown, or you lift the Lombardi trophy up in victory. I guess it is the same as an actor winning an Oscar or a Musician winning an Grammy Award. Because at the end of the day when it is all said and done, and it is time to go to heaven those things just don’t matter. Maybe they just filled sometime for us on this earth, but it really doesn’t matter.
After watching the Super Bowl I felt the game was the excitement, but that was all there was. I thought the Half- time show was horrible. All I saw was sexuality and self-obsession from someone that claims to believe in God. There were even some really nasty commercials that could have been avoided. Even as the fan it seems we can cheer and celebrate our team’s victory with so much more enthusiasm than we do worshiping Jesus on Sunday mornings. I am not trying to say I am not guilty of it either, but I am realizing that they may work hard to be the best at their positions in the National Football League all so they can make more money, but how does that helps us when we go to heaven. Most Athletes, Actors, Musicians are only out for the fame and money. Most are consumed with the “It’s all about me!” epidemic; this may not matter, but look at it in the view of a role model for your children. Children look up to these people, and most of them don’t even realize it, they just go out and do what they want. And don’t have a care in the world what drunken bar they stumble out of, or profanity they slur out of they mouths. It reminds me of what it says in James “Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.” (James 1:9-11).
It is so very easy to watch a sporting event or get into a good book, watch an interesting movie, or even listen to a rockin’ new album by our favorite band, and lose our self's in our minds, and let go of it all. But before entertainment becomes a crutch for gambling or an obsession, or even an escape from our daily lives, shouldn’t we be giving this all to God instead of letting some wrong and sinful images and words cloud our thoughts? I understand how easy it is to be sucked into the world we are living in these days. It’s the world about Technology and self-obsession. As Christians we act just like the world even though we aren’t of this world. We blend into society with our high tech cellular phones that never leave our sides; it’s our computers, cameras and other devices that are a click of a button away. It is hard to see what is right and wrong if you’re not pursuing God. No matter how advanced technology gets we should always ask ourselves, how can I use this to better the Kingdom of Heaven? We need not be consumed by the world around us. It still shocks me that you can pull up the Bible on your phone or nook/ Kindle. Yes, it is easy access, but what happened to the physical Book, you know the one with pages you can turn? Are we so lazy that we can’t carry the word around anymore? I don’t want to sound like I am putting anyone down because they are stepping up with the times. I am just scared of the day that nobody has a physical Bible in Church anymore, what is next the Pastor will pop-up in your house as a hologram when you can’t be there?
I am in no way trying to kill the excitement of the Super bowl. I am not against Sports! After years of being consumed by it I am seeing it in a different light. I can’t lie I did watch most of the game, but in all honesty I don’t see it as I used too. I don’t want to sound like a downer either and I am in no way saying that whoever watches it doesn’t love God. All I am really trying to do is lift up our Churches to celebrate Jesus like we do the Super Bowl. We spend weeks planning for something that can’t possibly be more important than our child’s first words, or the day we graduated from college. How can we claim to be followers of God if we know more and talk about Sports more? When we can simply without struggle say NO! to sports for a month, two months, even a year – I also mean TV, Internet, Radio, Video Games, Computers, Cell Phones, Kindles, Ipad’s. These are tools the Devil uses against us every day to keep us at a distance from our Loving Father. I am not here to point out names or accuse people of lack of faith, but God knows I have had my share of getting lost in the world. I am sure as a Christian that you have heard this view before, but my question is how much damage and pain are we going to take before we actually do something about it. We sit around and we complain about the evil in this world. I understand that it is hard for the little or few, but with the many and with God we can move mountains. Even if that means saying NO to your cell phone for a couple of hours and picking up your bible. The change can start with small steps and then build too bigger things. I just pray that we can have our eyes and ears open, and not become consumed in this world like I once was. No matter how many people that I love that are here this will never be called my home. I pray that you understand this place is temporary, and no matter what tempting devices hit the shelf’s that it won’t ever tear you away from Jesus.
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