June 27, 2018
If you declare with
your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from
the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9
Wearing the jersey
doesn’t make us a player on the team, playing the game on the field does.
Like many sports fans, I have a few shirts and hats to
represent my favorite teams and wear them proudly on a regular basis. When big games happen for one of them, I tend
to wear the jersey or hat, as a way of proving my allegiance and supporting my
team. That’s not just sports fans, we
see that happen for people supporting their favorite singer, or city, or
political position, or even their religion.
It’s no wonder that artists and retailers work hard to find niche
targets to profit from our devotion.
Dianna and I went to a NCAA Basketball Tournament event one
year, and our favorite team was playing at the venue. We wore our Buckeye gear every day, cheered
with fans throughout the town, celebrated their victories, and even saw a few
of the players in a mall on the day off between games! Wearing that stuff made us feel like one of the team. But when it came time for the game to start,
we were not sitting on the bench or playing on the court. All we were doing was cheering the team on
from the sidelines.
Jesus is not like athletes or artists looking for a cheering
section. He doesn’t care about gathering
more people in the stands. Jesus is
looking for people on the court! He
wants our collective cheer, but more than that, Jesus wants our hearts involved
in the game. Wearing the jersey around
town doesn’t make us a player, any more than it did for me at that
tournament. Jesus wants us to live the
life, not just cheer the team.
So many people today call themselves Christians based on
their family heritage or national allegiance.
Just because our family claims to be Christian doesn’t mean we have
confessed Him as Lord. Just because our
nation considers itself followers of Christianity doesn’t mean we are following
Christ. Make sure your faith is not
based on someone else – but based on your own convictions and beliefs about
Jesus. Then confess Him as your Lord,
and believe everything He tells you to do.
Don’t just be a fan, be a player for the Kingdom of Jesus.
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