The Mind, Emotions and the Will
Good Morning Friends,
We are about to enter the College Football Bowl season as part of our sports calendar…. then comes the profession playoffs for the Super Bowl. Much like the liturgical year it is filled up with something to capture our attention. What is of interest to me now though is what it does to these players’ souls and how we as fans… as Christians… are to engage them…how God engages them. Here is where it gets difficult because there are two definitions of soul…one meaning whole the other that which is eternal. I am looking for not one but both at the cross of Christ. The place and purpose where there is tension and growth and death and our only hope of life connecting the body, guided to build heavenly bridges between The Mind, Emotions and the Will.
Scripture:
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Mark 8:36 (KJV)
So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.
1 Corinthians 10:12 (NRSV)
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7 (NRSV)
If only you would tear open the heavens and come down!
Isaiah 64:1 (CEB)
Message: Ever wonder about the connection of humility and honesty in your character… the dynamic between creativity and perfection? It plays out big time in sports. Here there is a dance that goes on between these dimensions of a personality in the living of one’s life in the body God has given us. Maybe that is the true field of play. Sports have taken an increasingly influential role in my work in Immokalee. And while sports have the potential to give a good platform for witnessing, they also have the potential to lead the players and the fans into idolatry. People can get absolutely crazy about sports. Souls get lost in the transaction. Baseball players for example are some of the most superstitious people on the planet. The beard thing is part of it. Watch them go through rituals before pitching our batting. Watch them spit into their hands for good luck. Maybe that is why they are always chewing gum. But basketball players are superstitious too. Watch them bounce the ball before taking a foul shot for good luck. And of course you have heard before that Michael Jordan use to wear his North Carolina shorts under his Bull’s uniform. People have charms and I think football players are overly concerned about the numbers on their jerseys. It is tennis too. Why is it that you never see people playing tennis in yellow? Next time you watch a tennis game watch to see if the players avoid stepping on the lines. And our kids are raised up in this stuff. Unfortunately children on teams vying for scholarships and with professional ambitions are told all sorts of things that just messes up their heads. Here is the deal. There are ways people should think about their faith in relation to sports…but more importantly we need to figure out how the experience molds a soul. Like everything else in this life, participating in sports needs to be to the glory of God. If it isn’t then the experience will eat people’s souls away.
Pray people realize that the self is a soul without God. Pray we realize that there are some things we can lose that are more important that the game. Pray we not lose our testimony. Pray we not lose God’s reward. Pray we not lose the joy of our salvation. Pray we not lose our minds with worry and fear. Pray we not lose the faith.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 