"Putting Sports Ahead of Religion"

I love sports. Okay, I love most sports. I am huge college basketball and football fan. I love Major League Baseball. I even watch a smattering of NBA, tennis, golf and a few others.

I played sports when I was younger. I was in baseball leagues for several years. I played basketball for about 5 years, and I even ran track for a couple of years. But I still remember that no sport came before God.

I still remember scoring the winning run in a Little League game on a Wednesday night. Of course, I had to pinch-hit in the bottom of the last inning, because I was at Bible class while most of the game was going on. I was glad the coach let me play at the end (and I’m sure he was proud of his “brilliant” coaching move to put me in for the winning run!).

Leah talks often about playing volleyball in Area Tournaments and being pulled off the court during the match because it was time for Wednesday night Bible study. (Ironically, she would visit at the 9th Avenue church of Christ, where we now worship!)

Many times, though, families do not put God and the study of His Word first. In fact, in many places, even here in the South, many junior and children’s leagues are having games on Sundays. Some are even playing on Sunday morning!

That tells me at least two things:

• First, it tells me that there is very little respect for God. We have 168 hours each week. Can we not have just a couple to devote to our worship of God? We just simply do not respect God anymore.
• It also tells me that those who claim to be following God are not standing up anymore. Where were these Christians when the decision to play or practice on Sunday mornings was made? Are their children still in the leagues? If they are, then that is truly sad. If enough people who claim to be followers of God would pull their children out of such leagues, rules would change!

Recently, a young girl and her family had to make a decision between sports and their Lord. They chose the later, thankfully. The dad wrote a short article to the editor of his local paper. Where was this liberal place that doesn’t put God first? New York? No. Los Angeles? No, again. How about Chicago? Once again, no. It was in Portland–Portland, Tennessee!

To read the dad’s letter, you may click here.