It's Football Time In...

It's Football Time In... and you can fill in the blank of where you may be. I grew up in the foothills, kind of, of the Great Smoky Mountains and Knoxville, TN, the home of the Tennessee Volunteers (Vols for short). So every year at the start of the college season we would hear the words "It's football time in Tennessee!" to which the 100,000 plus people would scream and shout and get caught up in the energy of the crowd. Your school, team, or football season brings the same excitement I am sure.

Why do I bring up this subject matter? Well I'm glad you asked, or thought about it, or whatever. I was in the halls of a great school of theological training on Monday. It was interesting to hear people NOT talking about the hot topics that all the Southern Baptists are concerned about. No one was talking about Calvinsim and if that was right or was it freedom of choice? No discussion about the Great Commission Resurgence that is worrying many at the State Conventions, Local Associations, and even some churches. No one was talking about inerrant scriptures. No one was talking about Jesus Christ, eternal life, security of the believer, right to life, taxes, the church, or even possible tests or papers that they had not prepared for in class. NO! Everyone was talking, loudly, about the Bears and how their favorite line backer would be out for the season. How Favre played, yet again for another season for another team. They spoke about which team they were pulling for in the BCS Natioinal Championships, and the season had just begun.

I guess what caught my attention was that no one seemed to be talking about what REALLY matters. Now I am not against football, or sports of any kind as I feel they have their place. What I am against is that it seems that we in America, seminary students included, may be worshipping Baal and not even realize it. We call Baal a different name today. We call it Base-baal, Foot-baal, Basket-baal, etc. Baal was an idol for those that may not be in the know.

How many times do we know box scores, stats, players, and coaches names and even the names of their children but we can't remember any Bible verses beyond John 3:16? Once again, don't hear what I am not saying. I am not saying that sports are necessarily bad. I am just wanting to consider to put everything into perspective about the eternity of that which we devote our lives to. We all have those things that steal our time from facebook, to myspace, to my team, to my favorite hobby or pastime.

All I am saying is that there are some balances that we all need in our lives. We need to make sure that when new things show up in our lives that we don't allow God and his holy word to be the first thing that gets pushed to the side lines.

SO.....think about it, reflect on it and choose wisely. Enjoy life and your weekend; remember it is the fall and It's Football Time In ....