Last week Courtney and I checked off a bucket list item and attended our first NFL game, and it was a doozy! Most notable were the mascots for the teams: Aslan from Chronicles of Narnia (Lions) and Charles Entertainment Cheese, the mouse of Chuck E. Cheese (Chiefs).
Hours before the game we participated in the largest Tailgate party...in the world.
That’s what I was told, anyway. But just between us friends, if you’ve ever been to a small outdoor concert...
It got better when the players were warming up before the game. I got my hat signed by Chad Henne and Mike Danna!
Right before the game, they brought out 3 enormous Lombardi trophy replicas to excite the fans.
This was meant to be a centerpiece of their accomplishment as a team, and it got me thinking.
This team is spending hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of hours, suffering a huge toll on their bodies, and giving their very best for this one award every year.
And even though I respect their efforts, and I’m genuinely happy for their achievements, it’s only temporary.
It is what the Apostle Paul calls a “perishable crown.”
1 Corinthians 9:24–27 (CSB) 24 Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize. 25 Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown. 26 So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. 27 Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
If they are willing to put it all on the line for a temporary trophy, we have even more reason to give it all for an eternal reward. Enjoying this football season has encouraged me all the more to exercise self-control in everything, and to “run” as if the prize I’m fighting for is worth my life.
I look forward to this Sunday with you.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jack