Thought for Today
2 Samuel 2:14 Abner said to Joab, "Let the young men come forward and have a contest before us." Joab said, "Let them come forward."
Isaiah 40:31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.
Philippians 2:16 It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
Like many of you, my mind today is on sporting events, on one special sporting contest, the Super Bowl. Admittedly, yesterday’s game was not much of a contest. The only issue contested during most of the game was how many times the defense of the winning team could sack the quarterback of the team that eventually lost the game.
Few things in the sports world rival the Super Bowl for interest or for advanced hype. The approaching game is always the primary topic of conversation, news and interest for many during the weeks prior to the game itself. For some of us, there are really 2 contests going on almost simultaneously, There is, of course, the football game itself. But, there is also the contest between all of the (VERY EXPENSIVE!) television advertisements. Both contests will have declared winners and losers. The scoreboard itself will tell everyone who won the football game. Product revenues will offer clues about the winner of the advertising contest.
I am from Texas. I am a third generation native Texan. It therefore goes without saying that I enjoy football. Furthermore, like many Texans, I played high school football . . . or at least attempted to play the game known as football those many years ago. Without any regard to how well either team competed yesterday, the game we watched on television bore scant resemblance to the game I assayed to play long ago. Almost every block made by either team would have been penalized by the officials for holding when I was in high school. When I played, almost every team ran a T-formation offense. In our league of 7 schools, only 1 ran a single-wing offense. There were no slot receivers, no split ends (except in the cheerleaders’ hair), no wide-outs. The offenses and defenses were much less complex.
Football is not the only sport that has changed since my youth. Basketball has undergone similar changes. There are even sports now widely pursued and contested at every level that were almost unheard of ‘back then.’ Baseball was a filler between football spring practice and the real season. No one in Texas played lacrosse, although some of us read about the ‘sport’ being played by the Indians in our history books. I never saw anyone play soccer until my own children played in a youth league. I had heard of hockey, but I lived in Texas! Sports change. Times change. People change.
I could not help but think last night, as I awaited another sack of the Chiefs’ quarterback, about how much time, money and energy were expended to present the Super Bowl. Every year, cities compete to host the event, companies pay huge amounts of money to advertise. Highly compensated gladiators earn unimaginable amounts of money to perform. Entertainers are paid huge sums to perform during halftime. Months and years of planning are involved. All to present a 60-minute game that lasts about 3 hours. The same or similar amounts of time, money and energy are involved in the quadrennial Olympic Games. I wonder whether Abner and Joab every thought of themselves as the equivalent of our modern day coaches?
Might it advance the Kingdom of God to supplant the Super Bowl and/or the Olympic Games with different competitions. Imagine the result were we to initiate competitive Food Pantry leagues. We could pit NGOs (non-governmental organizations) against GFOs (governmentally funded organizations). The ‘bowl’ in the competition could be a soup bowl. We could do the same for organizations combating housing insecurity. Halftime entertainers could perform for free as a donation to charity. Such competition would demonstrate a lot more “love your neighbor” than any Super Bowl or Olympic Game. Think of the benefit to the hosting cities! But, would the television networks competitively bid for the rights to broadcast the contests?
Stay safe, imagine a better world, trust God,
Pastor Ray