Adult League Devotions / Week 6

Week 6:
Important But Not All-Important

By Rich Green, Sports Minister at Mount Pleasant Christian Church (Greenwood, Indiana) and adapted from devotional writings from Stuart Weir. 

We can make two mistakes when approaching sports. We can give them too important or we may think it they are simply not unimportant. 

Jesus' words in Matthew 4:10 "Worship the Lord your God and serve him only", remind us that God is to be worshipped and that we are not to allow anything or anyone to take his place. In the ancient world, people worshipped other gods. In our society it’s more likely to be sex, power, prestige, or material thing that we worship in God's place. Sports, as a fan and/or participant can become a god for us. We’ve all seen, and maybe even have worn the shirts that say “Football is Life” and other such sayings. We work our schedules around a round of golf, our kid’s games, and the schedule of our favorite teams. There is truly a danger that sports, and the value we place on them can take the place of God and we must re-evaluate our perspective if that becomes the case to ensure we avoid it in the future. 

Equally if we want to reach people for Christ whose identity is in sports, and as we’ve said before learn important life lessons from them, then it will not help to dismiss sports as only a game. If we believe that sports and our ability to enjoy sports is part of God's creation, then there is no reason that we cannot participate in sports as much as in any other human activity. 

In the light of eternity, work, possessions, sex, prestige, power, music, and yes even sports are of limited significance. But there is no reason to see sports as of any less value that the rest! And no reason we can’t use sports to assist us in our growth to become the man God intends us to be. 

Discussion Questions

1. What are your thoughts on what you’ve just Read/Heard? 
   
2. What are some way we can keep sports, whether a participant, a coach, or a spectator in the proper perspective. 
   
3. What’s the “Take-A-Way” for tonight? 
   

DOWNLOAD DEVOTION ››