Ok, so there's this joke.......
If you see someone with a Baylor shirt on, he went to Baylor.
If you see someone with a Texas shirt on, he went to Walmart.
What the hot mess does that have to do with Jesus?
Here's some more analogy.
I love basketball! I play intramurals right now. When I am sitting on the bench I can hardly stand it. I want to play.
If I got the chance to play for Baylor, I would not be satisfied to wear the jersey and just be on the team. I would want to play, to contribute, to help my team win.
The same is true with Christ!!!!!!
I should not be satisfied when I join His team by becoming a believer.
First off, I should want to DO something.
"But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only; deceiving yourselves." James 1:22
In order to do something, I have to go through hard practices.
"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Romans 5:3-5
There is no athletic team that everybody loves. By joining a team, there should be people that don't like me. If I am pleasing everybody, something is wrong.
"Blessed are you when people hate you and exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!" Luke 6:22
I should not be satisfied after each performance. I should GO HARD every single day.
"But I, brothers, couldn't address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?" 1 Corinthians 3:1-3
In order to go hard daily, I have to keep my eyes on the prize and discipline myself.
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But i discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should become disqualified." 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.
Wow! What is stopping me from going hard every day?????
Here's the deal. You don't have to be 80 to die. It could happen tomorrow. So why hold back?
Also, athletes are recognized by the team they play on.
Tim Tebow-Denver Broncos
LeBron James-Miami Heat
Josh Hamilton-Texas Rangers
Your name-_______
If you fill Christian in there, you should live that way!! You don't plant an apple tree and then tell everyone it's a peach tree.
Christian is not just any ol' name.
It is the name of the One who came and died for you.
If you are wearing that name, you had better live it!
Often, I become lazy and complacent with wearing the jersey.
We need to GO HARD!!
If we don't need to wash our jersey because we didn't sweat in it, something is wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo_QkcfOUwU
