You shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3)
I love sports; always have, always will. . .so October is a busy month for me. I try to watch as much of the baseball playoffs and World Series as possible. The sound of high school bands at local football games is music to my ears and the college and pro football TV programming seems endless. The NHL begins its long season in October, and basketball teams everywhere have entered into their pre-season warmups. All this athletic gawking takes up a significant amount of time and if I was still youthfully agile enough to actually participate in active sports, I wouldn’t have enough time to blow my nose into the cold autumn wind. But alas. . .
Sports are one of my Big Three special interests, with the other two being Christianity and Music. If I were to list my personal interests in terms of priority, it would look something like a pyramid:
These interests take up about 99.9% of my free time. I say “free time” because the rest of my time is spent at work or eating, sleeping and staring blankly into space. Yes, I hear you saying, “OK Don, so you have a lot of interests. What’s the point?” The point is
You shall have no other gods before me. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? We are to fear, love, and trust God above all things. (Luther’s Small Catechism)
Our lives are loaded with personal interests. . .and distractions. . .and tensions and stresses and bereavements. . .and work, and it seems that this avalanche of preoccupations detains us from being what we are truly called to be: A child of God.
But this doesn’t have to be the case.
God is the creator who made all things and he wants us to enjoy and experience his whole world. We can look for his stamp in virtually everything we do and apply his Word to our lives continuously. I know it’s hard to soar with eagles when you work with turkeys, but God said, “. . .those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31). There are biblical teachings that we can easily employ towards our personal finances. We can see beauty in the natural world all around us (Take a photography class to see what you’ve been missing). A well-written book or a moving movie or inspiring concerts are all wonderful expressions of personal art (although it may be hard to find inspiration in a Metallica concert but hey, there’s always something to be said for communal fellowship). The simple joy of gardening and the subsequent fruit of your labor are made possible by God’s biological miracle. It takes faith, hope and love (and a little practice) but we can be observant and thankful for just about anything we pursue. God’s servant, the Holy Spirit, is there to help us with building our faith to appreciate these pursuits.
And for those things that we can’t reconcile to God (Ebola, child pornography, deaths by natural disaster, etc.), we lean on our Savior Jesus and pray to him to relieve our world of its sins so can be prepared for our final destination. . .and I don’t mean a spring training camp in Florida.
Dear Heavenly Father,
No matter what else is happening; no matter where we are; no matter whom we are with. . .keep us focused on you and thankful for what you have given us. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Contributed by Donald
Monday October 27, 2014
Liturgical Year A: Week 48
Liturgical Color: Green
Sunday Gospel reading: Proper 25
Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost