good thing we serve a selfless God.

If you know me, you are probably aware of my passion for sports. There are very few things that get my adrenaline goin' like SEC Saturday night football, or Game 7's of Championship Series. However, when it really gets down to it, the main source of happiness for most athletes is also the major downfall of most people's relationship with their Creator: greed & fame. When you really start to think about it, it saddens you more and more, the people aren't playing for their love for the sport, but their love of money. This could also be implied for some people's walk with God, they aren't doing it because they're madly in love with the Creator, they are doing it because it could be used as a label, just like the label athlete, the label Christian gets you looked at in an immediately different angle than other people.

After watching my all-time favorite show, "Sportscenter"I came across a quote that literally made me sick to my stomach, and one that should leave us, as the body of Christ, feeling incredibly uneasy. Adrian Peterson is on track for breaking a record, which the record-holder isn't too excited about, check this out, when asked about the record, record-holder Eric Dickerson says "I like the record, I don't think it will ever be broken."....so...what's wrong with that Lathan? The thing that "erks" me about this is that the sociological mindset of most people today is, "just let me be the best I can be with my physical attributes, and nobody will be able to top it." It's a good thing our Creator did a lot more amazing things, and didn't boast about it. Imagine Jesus feeding the 5,000 starving people that day, and then exclaiming "I KNOW! HA HA! I KNOW I'M THE BEST! JUST GO AHEAD AND FALL ON YOUR FACE AND TELL ME HOW AMAZING I AM." Wow, it's a good thing we serve a selfless God."

In God's eyes, boasting is obviously a sin; in Matthew 6:1, God says "Watch out! Don't do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will LOSE the reward from your Father in Heaven." (NLT)
I don't think it's a coincidence at all, that Christ uses the word "lose" in this situation. Players, can have an undefeated season, be the best in the Nation, be the best athlete IN THE WORLD, but surely, if they expect their deeds to be admired by others, they won't win the thing that really matters.


I am currently reading "The Good Life" by Trip Lee, and it is a book I just can't seem to put down, one thing that Trip Lee says that really strikes me is "We need to be freed from bondage (social class, fame, greed, sex) to sin, and no percentage of brain function can do that. We need new hearts. But we can't go into surgery if we don't even know we are sick."
Some of us need new hearts, I've been in need of a new heart, but we have to confess that we aren't the "center of the universe".



There is a God, who could outrun any athlete, outscore any team, and has already defeated the biggest opponent anybody will face.


and if you're curious about what record God has, well, to name one He is still on the Throne, and that's the record that matters.




For His Glory.