Fierce Loyalty

       To be actively involved in sports one must be competitive, determined, disciplined, energetic, grounded, focused and in good physical shape!  If any of these qualities is missing, the likelihood of winning is diminished by degrees. 

Sports traditions across the nation indicate the value and determination to be “winners” through the legacies built and left behind, over the last many decades!  Every college has definitive traditions that sets them apart from other colleges.  There are colors, a “fight song;” mascot; nickname and even forums uniquely designed for students. These are time honored traditions that work as the glue to unify everyone who attends the university they are attending.

It seems colleges, and sometimes high schools, are a place where fierce loyalty is displayed.  Crowds fill the stadium at games to cheer on their team. They are often dressed in the school colors, have painted faces, carry banners and wave flags during the entire game.   They fill the stadium or grandstands regardless of weather.  If the team is playing they are going to show up and cheer their team on.  There are even groups who deliberately sit together in order to enhance 'strength in numbers'.  They are unified as a 'body' fighting for the same goal: their team needs to win!  There is no greater honor (except maybe graduation) than to have your team make the championships and then become the best in their division!  

It makes me wonder if we are dedicated, as Believers, to running the race God has given us in life, as readily as we run a race to win (or cheer on) a sports event that only lasts a fleeting moment?  Do we commit to wearing the 'colors', knowing the 'rule book', gathering to support each other, sing songs of 'great spirit' or believe in the symbols that represent who we believe in?  

 I admit, as I watch a football game or a NASCAR race on TV for three hours or more, I absolutely enjoy cheering on the particular team of my choice.  It doesn’t always match the team my husband wants to win and if other relatives are here, it isn’t uncommon for each of us to have our own favorite.  But we can be 'fiercely loyal' to the team or driver of our choice!

I’d like to say I spend the same amount of time each day studying God’s Word or other Christian material, as I do watching sports.  Understand, I very, very rarely sit in front of the TV and do nothing.  I am usually doing something constructive, but still the TV has my attention.  When I sit down to God’s Word daily, it’s usually in 5-15 minute segments.  I read first thing in the morning, spend some time in the late afternoon or early evening in a study, and then before bed, I read the Bible (currently going through the book of Psalms).  Does that equal the three hours I spend in front of the TV? It’s something I need to re-evaluate and consider.  What is most important?  Where are my priorities? 

I encourage you to also consider the time you allot for spending time with God.  What (or who) holds your fiercest loyalty?  Does something else trump the time you spend with the Lord daily?  What is more important; your other “races” in life, or the race you are running for the Lord? 

Photo Credit:  https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/different-people-participating-cross-country_20283247.htm#page=3&query=running