You can tell the change of seasons by what people wear. No, I’m not talking about the change of weather seasons (like winter or summer), but rather the change of sports seasons. Hats, jerseys, even face paint depict which season has begun and which team is favored.
America is sports-crazy! I don’t know about other countries, but here folks not only choose the teams they root for, but which sports they prefer. And now with cable TV, nine bajillion channels, and split screens, you are able to watch sports all weekend and more than one game at once. Just go into a local sports bar and you will see several games being played on the various monitors. (For people like me who crave peace and quiet, that’s not the place to go, but many love it.)
Inherent in sports watching is also sporting analyzing. In the lunch room, in the hallways, in the car, at the restaurant, people are talking how the coach missed this or a player missed that. Replays (in slow motion, of course) and reruns allow people to relive crucial moments over and over again, talking what should have been done differently, praising the attributes of their "own" team, and criticizing the faults of the opposing team. (There’s usually a lot of criticizing the opposing team.)
If you visit the local stadium early enough, you can see players, coaches, and fans mingling together. Unless you actually know the faces, it’s sometimes difficult to tell who’s who. They may all wear team paraphernalia or team colors, speak the same language, and have the same goals.
But’s there a huge difference!
Fans will never know or understand what it means to be on that field, to have the fate of a game or championship in your hands. They will never know the tension and effort that it takes for the coaches to analyze and design plays that will bring about victory. Fans will never understand that true sacrifice that it takes to play the game.
Fans sit back and observe, but they don’t truly join in.
As people who call ourselves Christians, we need to decide whether we are fans or players. We may call ourselves Christians. We may attend church, sing the songs, listen to the message, and interact in the parking lot with the others who are there. We may dress alike, speak similarly, and have the same goals (such as defeating what culture moral is the "sin of the hour"). But that doesn’t make us a true Christian. As the saying goes, "Being in a garage doesn’t make one a mechanic."
So what actually makes someone a Christian? Well, contrary to popular belief, saying the "sinner’s prayer" won’t make you a Christian. It can be the start, but it’s the start, not the process, and it’s the process that creates a Christian. Paul talks about this process in Ephesians, dividing it into three parts: (1) grow up in all things; (2) joined and knit together; and (3) the head, Christ.
Salvation is a process, a lifelong journey, in which it is possible to step off the path momentarily or even forever. Each day, each moment, we make decisions whether or not we will be obedient to our Lord or obedient to our own flesh, whether we will choose righteousness or sin. Using our analogy of fans and players, when we "grow up," the difference between fans and players is what happens inside our hearts. Fans of Christianity embrace all the trappings. They may or may not attend church, but they know the "speak." They have a Bible version of choice (and often defend it "to the death"). They often listen to Christian worship music and may be familiar with the different professional recording artists. They have seen the latest "Christian movie" and are demanding that everyone else go see it. They probably have a closet full of Christian t-shirts which they wear proudly and they are very visible, either in their communities or on the Internet, with their opinions about how the Christian life should be lived.
Players of Christianity—the Christians who are on the playing field—on the other hand are often too busy to be consumed with the trappings. They regularly join together in a physical meeting with other believers because the Lord commanded it, but rather than spending their money on CD’s, DVD’s, and t-shirts, are liberally giving to the poor, the needy, and to missions work. They are often seen volunteering at places that most other people wouldn’t even think about. They open their homes to the homeless, share food with the hungry, volunteer in schools in order to hug a lonely child, and visit those in prison. They are consumed with wondering if they are doing enough, but they continue to minister, even if it’s one person at a time, and everything they do is done because, in all the hours of prayer they spent, the Lord told them to. They would jump into a lions’ den if that’s what Jesus wanted.
Players are totally immersed in the process of salvation. They are working everyday to surrender themselves completely to the Holy Spirit. Their only goal in life is to live out the fruit of the Spirit in every encounter they have. They know they are interconnected with all other believers in the Body of Christ and they regularly interact within the Church in order to allow God to fully develop every aspect of His Church. They spent time in prayer and Bible study in order to continue to know Christ fully and the power of His resurrection (Phil. 3:10).
Players don’t advertise they are Christians. Like the tax collector who prayed, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner" (Luke 18:13), players are constantly aware of the temptations to sin and stand humbly before God, greatly thankful for His love and mercy. They work to constantly love all others in the House of God because God loves them and because they are commanded to (John 13:35). But their light shines brightly because it’s the light of the Holy Spirit. It’s impossible to miss a player. You know immediately who they are.
The question becomes, which are we . . . fans or players? Which do we want to be?
© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.
For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment