Time and Sports, a Battle of Balance
Time is the key element in our Christian walk.
And it’s easy to mess it up.
Each day, we must decide how much time we will devote to a belief system that promises eternity with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Yes, this comes in different forms. We can spend time reading The Word. But if all we do in 16 waking hours is read Scripture, we probably won’t have a job very long. Even the pastor of a church has duties other than reading Scripture.
The challenge is finding a balance.
Recently, we had two of this country’s most popular sporting events. The NFL playoffs and March Madness had the potential to flood our living rooms and dominate our time. I mention both of those because they reel in many Christians.
As for Major League Baseball, I don’t have a problem with it anymore. I gave up watching regular-season games because of the length. I still follow it through Rotisserie baseball participation, but I rarely watch games. And yes, I have to be careful about not spending too much time dabbling with my fantasy team. That’s more difficult in football season.
As for the NBA playoffs, I can get drawn into watching the Lakers’ games. But not like in the past. I forgot about Friday’s game between the Lakers and Timberwolves because of the NFL Draft, and I also worked on our Sunday School lesson. But after watching the full-game highlights on YouTube and seeing how sloppy the Lakers played in key moments, I’m glad I didn’t invest in the live version.
By the way, the full-game highlights are a good way to watch games without devoting big blocks of time to it. Avoid finding out who won, type in “team-team full-game highlights” into a Google search, and you can watch the whole game in about 10 minutes.
Time-saving approaches are necessary for die-hard sports fans who want to balance sports with faith.
While the Internet, streaming, and cable have brought a 24-7 diet of sports into our world, it also presents opportunities to remain connected without letting sports consume us.
We must devote time to improving our spiritual walk. But one of the easiest ways to get sidetracked from that task is to get busy. It’s amazing how much busier life is these days. It can be hard to find time to get to the grocery store.
But we must guard our time with the Lord. We need to find time to pray and read Scripture. We should tell others about Jesus. We should strive to live a life that reflects his teachings. And church attendance should be part of every Christian’s life.
Hebrews 10:24-25
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
And the Day is indeed drawing near.