football? really?

What we do for football?

I have been thinking a lot about the way our society celebrates football. Not that it is a bad thing. I love football. It is a great game and brings our communities together. It creates teams and allegiances, forces healthy competition. It gives us something to root for and to identify with. Our team….whatever that may be, is something we will do crazy things for.
Let’s think for a minute; what we will do for football.
We will stay up late or get up early.
We will let our kids miss school, stay up past bed time and skip homework.
We will miss yell and scream, stand to our feet and cheer.
We will subject ourselves to less sleep and deprive ourselves of other things and people we love for it.
We will watch and rewatch the game or play on dvr.
We will drive great distances, pay outrageous prices for tickets and buy food that is way overpriced.
We will plan to be gone all day and sometimes all night.
We will pack food for all day, so we don’t have to leave.
We will sit in uncomfortable seats, eat outside out of our trunks and plan for weeks what our schedules look like around the game.
We will sit through unbearable heat, freezing rain and blistering winds.
We will be sure that our friends are going and that we are not alone.
We will go early for good seats, stay late to visit with the players.
We will study the teams and their plays.
We will get worked up when a bad call is made and defend, yell and stomp our feet at the injustice.
We will cheer for the players, encourage them and when it is time to rally, we don’t hesitate to make a stand.

And these are just a few things we will do. And this is if we aren’t even PLAYING in the game. These are things we as spectators do for a game we call football.
I guess my question today is…have you, will you do any and all these things for Jesus? And not just for a season, but a lifetime?
Will you stay up late or get up early? Let your kids miss school, stay up past bed time and skip homework. Will you yell and scream, stand to your feet and cheer. Will you subject yourself to less sleep and deprive yourself of other things and people we love for Him.
Will you watch and rewatch the teaching and listen to podcost?
Will you drive great distances, pay outrageous prices for tickets and buy food that is way overpriced? Will you plan to be gone all day and sometimes all night, pack food for all day, so you don’t have to leave?
Will you sit for hours in uncomfortable seats, eat outside out of your trunks and plan for weeks what our schedules look like around church.
Would you sit through unbearable heat, freezing rain and blistering winds.
Will you be sure that your friends are going? Would you go early for good seats, stay late to visit with the people? Would you study and get worked up when a bad call is made and defend, yell and stomp your feet at the injustice.
Do you cheer for the players, encourage them and when it is time to rally, don’t hesitate to make a stand?

What is it you say that you love? Football…..Jesus….
Your feet speak loudly….
ALL FOR YOU

known

Gal 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?
I have read this verse a million times. And it has convicted my heart a million times about returning to the very things that I have been freed from. God has been most gracious to free us from the weak and worthless things of this life and yet, I seem to somehow enslave myself to the very things He has freed me from.
But today, something fresh has torn open my heart from this verse. Often we teach people that they need to know God. We tell them to study the Word and to seek Him. We develop classes, plan services, orchestrate settings so that people can know more about God. And this is of God. It is His desire that we know Him.
And yet, the thing that has struck my heart is even deeper than that. Is it more important that we know God, or that we are known by God. At the end of this life, what we know of God and our confession of knowing God will be of little value if our God doesn’t know us.
One of the scariest verses of Scripture in the Bible is Matt 7:21-23
21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.
22 "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'
23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'
Many will SAY that they know God, but that is not the most important thing. The ONLY thing that matters is that you are KNOWN BY GOD. For on that day, your confession will not be what gets you in. It will be the fact that HE KNOWS YOU. It is not nearly as important that you know God as it is that you are known by God.
I can say all day long that I know people. But the true test of knowing is do they know you? And not just your name. We can say we know people by name dropping, but the truth is can they call yours and is there relationship to back it up, because that is what true knowing is all about.
You may know His name and profess to know Him, but the only thing that matters is does He know your name and does God have relationship with you that backs that up?


ALL FOR YOU