Sports Spectrum

I love football, and I always look forward to college football’s bowl season. But, after two long weeks of seemingly non-stop games, I surrender. I know that tomorrow night the BCS national championship game will be played, and that Alabama and Texas are expected to put on quite a show. I know that both teams are well-stocked with great players and outstanding coaches. I know that this is the culmination of months of work and preparation, and that both teams have earned the right to play for the championship. That’s all good. For me, however, I am finding it really hard to get excited about it. I’ve been flooded with so much football that, for me, yet another game—no matter how significant it may be—is a little hard to get interested in. No offense to the Tide and the Longhorns. It is just really hard to get cranked up for another game after being inundated with so many in such a short space of time. College football bowl games, intended to be extraordinary, have become ordinary. And that’s too bad.

I wonder if sometimes we don’t get into the same kind of rut in our relationship with God. Instead of being amazed that the Creator of the universe loves me and is involved in my life, the Christian life becomes mundane by the dailiness of it. The thought that the Son of God willingly sacrificed Himself for me loses the awe that it once had. The overwhelming reality that the Holy Spirit dwells in my life becomes forgotten, even ignored, when it should be cherished. How does this happen? Well, perhaps a piece of it is found in Jesus’ words to the church at Ephesus. They were busy and active, but something was missing. He said to them:

“But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” (Revelation 2:4)

Those are chilling words. Bible teachers have different ideas about what this means, but to me, it is a reminder of the burning love that I had for Jesus when I first responded to His offer of love and forgiveness. It is a reminder that our hearts can grow cold and our walk with Christ can become stale if we don’t intentionally cultivate our relationship with Him. It is a reminder that the privilege of knowing Christ is the greatest privilege we could ever know. The challenge to us is to never allow something so extraordinary to become ordinary.

Bill Crowder, Sport Spectrum Chaplain