Bold and Beautiful Exemplo

Idolatry

Body:

There’s a passage in the book of Isaiah that tells of a man who fashions an idol out of wood. He cuts down the wood, uses it to light a fire, cooks his meat and keeps himself warm. Then he makes an idol out of the same wood and worships it. It’s silly. But more than that, it’s sad.

Our sports are good things, just like the wood was a good thing for the man when he used it how it was supposed to be used. They can help us learn valuable life lessons, reveal areas of physical talent, keep us fit and healthy, help us form amazing relationships and bring us great joy. But that’s all. Some of us might make careers out of them, too, which is good, but beyond that, they’re just sports.

It happens all the time…An athlete gets so consumed by her sport that it takes over her life. She thinks about it constantly while she’s in class. She builds her schedule around it, sacrifices relationships and time for it, kills herself physically for it and cuts out anything that gets in the way of it. While that may seem like the picture of a dedicated competitor, it’s not. It’s unbalanced and unhealthy.

The problem with idols is that they will always, always, always let us down. Our sports will end. Our bodies will grow old. Whatever records we set will eventually be broken. If we worship these sports as false gods we will be devastated.

The only One who is worthy of worship is God. He’s the epitome of love, grace, power, mercy, forgiveness and unchanging love. He alone can satisfy us the way we try to be satisfied by idols. We want to achieve significance? God gives us that as His children; idols give it to us momentarily. We want to be loved? God gives us His love unconditionally.

 If we worship our sport and lay down our lives for it, we’ll be devastated when it fails us. Instead, we can turn our affection to the One who knows us completely, loves us totally and works everything together for our good (Romans 8:28). There’s nothing safer than that.

QUESTION:

1. To what degree does your sport rule your life?
2. How does your worship of your sport compare to your worship of Christ?
3. What dangers do you face if you worship your sport? What dangers are there in worshipping God?