By the time this is scheduled to post the “Big Game” (the other name is protected) should be over. As I write this I have no idea who will even be IN the Big Game, much less who actually won. It would be nice if the Green Bay Packers went all the way to win another one.
There are those who would disagree, and that’s okay. Many of my friends are Vikings fans, and I feel sorry for them (ha-ha). Truth be told, it doesn’t really affect my life in any way. I haven’t seen more than a few minutes of game play all season, and only when visiting friends who are watching the broadcast.
Linda and I dumped our satellite system many years ago. We used to have the Packers scheduled to record, and by the time we returned from church the broadcast would be two hours into the game, and we’d start watching the recording. The system we’d used allowed us to skip ahead by thirty seconds at the push of a button, and if we hit that the instant a play was ended we’d be just in time to watch the next snap. Six skip-aheads and we’d bypass a three-minute commercial break. Press FF through the halftime.
That process would allow us to catch up to “live” play at about the two-minute warning. We’d watch the end as it happened.
That ended with our satellite subscription.
Sure, we could hook up an HD antenna and watch our local affiliate’s broadcast, but in reality we don’t really care that much. Besides, we couldn’t skip past the boring stuff and it would take more than three hours to watch.
How about you?
Do you live and breathe to watch the NFL, or hockey, or some other sport? Maybe “your” show is DWS, or some other reality TV show. Whatever you like, it’s okay. But do you skip church to make sure you get to watch?
When I was training in martial arts, class was from seven until eight. Most nights it went a few minutes late, except the night when Home Improvement was on. The guy who headed our class most nights would never miss an episode, and he wanted to be at the TV when the show started.
I know preachers who were the same with the Packers. A forty-five minute sermon - except when the Packers started at noon. Those Sundays, the sermon seldom went even thirty minutes. The pastor “needed” to be home at Game Time.
So who was his god?
There are those who say, “We don’t worship idols in this modern era!” Do you skip hearing the Word of God for a sporting event? Do you cut short a martial arts class every Wednesday so you can watch a sitcom? Who is your god?
Recent political unrest makes me think there are a lot of Christians who have made a god of a political party or candidate. Shame on them.
There’s only one Person who can save them, and it’s not Biden or Trump. It’s not even a country or its constitution. Do you bow down to a piece of paper with ink, or maybe idolize (see what I did there) a flag? All of that should point TOWARD the One who can save.
The American constitution is supposed to a statement of self-evident truths, that all of our rights are derived from God. To put hope in a governmental system is to deny God His place in our lives. Make your hope in the election of a political candidate and you’re denying Christ the central position. That’s idolatry.
The America you remember, the politician you support, the very planet you live on will all perish one day. Place your hope in the sun, even, and you’ll be disappointed. Scientists say there’s only about five billion years left for that.
Even that is an eye blink in eternity.
God is forever. You can either pick Him as the centerpiece of your life, or deny Him.
If you pick Him now, you’ll get Him forever. Deny Him now and you’ll be without Him forever.
That’s the very definition of Hell.
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