Candy, sports, and eternity.

I like the Rangers. I like the Cowboys. I like them the way that I like popping a piece of candy into my mouth. It gives me brief pleasure, but it's not something I seek out every day, or make a priority, or something I rearrange my schedule for. It doesn't make me jump up and down screaming. It's not a habit that compels me to spend a lot of money or invest a lot of my time into what's here today, gone tomorrow. Wait, am I talking about candy, or sports? Hee hee, well I am talking about both.

Seems to me that many believers get so caught up in sports that they forget who they are in Christ. When they get into a game, their character seems to change, and the things that are usually important to them are suddenly forgotten. That bugs me.

I wouldn't say that there is anything wrong with enjoying sports (or any other earthly pleasure that is legal and wouldn't ruin the testimony), just that as Christians we should examine all things by the light of Scripture.

All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. {1 Corinthians 6:12}

What it comes down to is this: Does this thing control me? Does it change me? Does it draw my heart away from what is eternally important, and make me dwell on things which do not really matter?

Can we imagine the man who said he pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, glued to the TV every Monday night to watch football, hollering at the referee for the bad call he made? I just can't see it.

I don't mean to imply that as believers we can't enjoy watching a game. I just wish believers would remember Whom we represent, and what our mission is during our brief lifetime. Just thinking.