football in chapel

So I probably should be working on my english comp paper right now, but I am dieing to share about chapel this morning. The speaker was Rev. Jeff Davenport, and he did a fantastic job this morning delivering the message. I highly encourage you to listen to the message, because the particular object lesson that struck me will be way better listening to him tell it, then to reading it in my words.

If you are anything like me, you have no idea what Pro Bowl is. And again, if you are anything like me, you still don't really know what it is, but that doesn't matter. All you need to know is that it is football, and it is a group of men from different AFC and NFL teams that kind of join their own team (sorry, I am sure I am totally butchering this). The thing is, they are all wearing the same jersey, just different helmets.

Rev. Davenport was sharing with us this morning how these Pro Bowl games usually are not played as aggressively as a regular football game, and that is largely because while they are on the same team, they aren't on the same team as what their helmet identifies them as (New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, Dallas Cowboys etc). They don't tackle as hard, or run as hard, because they aren't putting every ounce they have into these games because these people aren't their real team, and this isn't the real NFL games they are in the career for. I assume another reason is they don't want to end up hurting one of their own players (but what do I know?). Rev Davenport was relating this to our spiritual life. Are you wearing the jersey of Christ, but still have your own helmet over? If so, that is obviously hindering your walk with the Lord, and your testimony as a believer. You can't decide to say you are part of a team, when your real loyalty is to the name on your helmet--yourself! You have to be completely sold out to your team, putting your every ounce into life while wearing the Christ jersey (I don't mean for it to sound corny).

I encourage you to examine yourself on whether you are playing a Pro Bowl game, wearing the Christ jersey and your own helmet, or are you playing an NFL game, wearing His jersey and helmet?

It isn't often that a sports analagy strikes me, but this one sure does. I hope you are able to find time to listen to the message, and that it encourages you as much as it did me.