In most parts of the country, “autumn” doesn’t just rhyme with “football.” It seems to be synonymous. And the months before autumn are not summer, but pre-season! From midgets to pros, football players, coaches, trainers, families and fans are anticipating with undisguised excitement the coming season for their teams.
Steeler Country is likely holding its collective breath as its team faces the first season in 18 years without Big Ben under center and three more-or-less inexperienced quarterbacks vying for the job. Fans will likely breathe a collective sigh of relief (or maybe even whisper a prayer of thanks) if one or all of them are doing well.
Let’s not forget that there are many other sports that are preparing to play or are already doing so. I remember this almost everywhere I look. A Facebook friend with a high school student posted this enthusiastic note: “Tis the season, that is, tennis!” Newspapers publish schedules and profiles of area school teams. I see groups of long-distance runners racing against each other as they gallop over hill and dale, or down city streets.
And what about those pirates? ! They may or may not be statistically knocked out of pennant competition, but they still find ways to win – once in a while – and, more importantly, be winners off the pitch as well. Recently, players, coaches and managers joined Miracle Leaguers from Altoona and other fields the Pirates helped build, in a fantasy camp for children and young adults with special needs.
And speaking of kids and baseball, Pennsylvania’s entry into the Little League World Series in Williamsport delighted fans with their can-do attitude and sparkling play. As of this writing, there are still hurdles to overcome, in the form of ever tougher competition, but the Hollidaysburg Little Leaguers “COULD… GO… ALL… THE… WAY! »
It is more than just hope that we have in Jesus Christ…it is the assurance that believing leads to living! When the apostle Paul uses a sports analogy for faith, he invariably describes the place of living believers as being active participants in the game or event.
Only those who have gone to eternal rest and reward are depicted in the crowd of spectators watching an event from the sidelines: “So, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us cast away all this sin which gets tangled so easily, and let us run with perseverance the course set out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).
“Don’t you know that in a race all the runners run, but only one wins the prize? Run in a way to get the prize. Everyone who participates in the games undergoes strict training. They do it to get a crown that won’t last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. I don’t run like a man running aimlessly; I don’t fight like a man beating the air. Paul does everything in his power to ensure that “…after preaching to others, I myself shall not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Almost everything concerning the life of faith is in the “active voice”. James advised believers to “…not just listen to the word and thereby deceive yourself. Do as he says” (James 1:22).
Christianity is not a spectator sport. Don’t just be observers, but get involved, one might paraphrase. James goes on to say that he who “keeps on doing this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it, will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:25).
Jesus was rarely passive and more often than not proactive, emphasizing this point with active verbs when he told his disciples: “I say to you, ask and it will be given to you; Seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9).
He went on to explain clearly the active nature of his own ministry, saying, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
With the introduction of another image of discipline and obedience, Paul urged Timothy to “endure difficulties with us as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs – he wants to please his commander. Likewise, if someone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:3-5).
Paul planned to “finish strong”. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the just judge, will bestow on me in that day, and not only to me, but also to all who waited for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
Get in the game, people! As a health and fitness advocate once said, “We’d all be better off with 35,000 players on the pitch and 22 in the stands.” This is a great principle for the Kingdom as well as for the stadium.