09/13/2024
Happy Friday!
Our topic from last Sunday, A Man and His Mind, is something all Christians have struggled with. As the early church was finding its footing, new believers found it hard to separate themselves from the culture they had grown up in. Sports and games during the Roman Empire were violent, deadly, and strongly intertwined with pagan beliefs. To even attend competitions was seen as an implicit approval of those beliefs. Early church leaders tried to ban Christians from attending or participating in sports. Those attempts repeatedly failed. So, as theology and doctrine were being worked out, the nature of sports was also being debated. Could a Christian engage with sports without being in sin? Even now, we see "Christian athletes" driven to win at all costs. Coaches who are believers willingly or passively set aside Christian values in the heat of the moment. It's amazing to me that this debate has persisted in various forms for almost 2000 years. Thomas Acquinas, in the 13th century, talked about sports, when done in moderation and for the right reasons, as a way to experience rest, a renewal of body and spirit. When God rested on the seventh day after all the work was done, Scripture doesn't really define rest.
There are many things that have merit, but our motives and goals will decide their "goodness."
Is our passion to mirror and reflect Christ or is it to win? Will we follow the world or our Savior?
Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world,fn but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
