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The Super Bowl is filled with the potential for idolatry with such excessive emphasis placed on pleasure and consumption, spurred on by millionaire athletes and multi-million-dollar Super Bowl ads. While we can enjoy the ads and the game, we must be careful not to allow our focus to drift from God—and the First Commandment, “No other gods.”
In a Christianity Today article, Kutter Callaway of Fuller Theological Seminary says, “The NFL is, in a real sense, our civic religion. It has Sunday worship services, mid-week Thursday celebrations, patron saints (Hall of Famers), and a liturgical calendar that begins with the NFL draft (in April) and ends with the Super Bowl (in February).”
There is a legitimate place for athletic contests, even championship football games. But let’s not make an idol of them! Forbes estimates that Americans spend an average of $70 Billion a year playing fantasy football. Add to that all the dollars, time, energy, tail-gating, game-day parties and you’re talking about worship that considerably outpaces national participation in Church. As I was flying back from Chicago to Houston this week, I ran into several people who were flying in to town just to join the Super Bowl tail-gating parties! And therein lies the point. America does not have a worship problem. America has an idolatry problem.
We know how to worship. We know how to devote ourselves, our attention, our financial support, our hearts, our minds, our allegiance, our passion, and our praise. But the object of our affection can many times be entertainment or football…and not the one true God.
The truth is that we all commit idolatry, which is why the first of the 10 commandments, echoed in the greatest commandment, is centered on the issue. God comes first or we are not genuinely acknowledging and worshiping Him as God. That’s idolatry distilled down to its most basic form. So, when we recognize that we are committing time, energy and material resources to something ahead of God, we need to deal with it.
As you enjoy Super Bowl 51, just remember your priorities. I, for one, will be watching the game with my parents, my wife, and my kids. In fact, our home TV is often on whatever sport is in season!
For me and my family, we must remember that worship is a moment-by-moment decision we all make about the One to whom our attention, affection and allegiance are owed.
Who’s your #1?
Throughout the month of February, I’ll continue to focus on lessons from the Second Commandment this month. As my regular readers know well, I have a passion for leadership and leadership development. So, I found Bill Hull’s book on The Christian Leader: Rehabilitating Our Addiction to Secular Leadership to be a good Second Commandment reminder.
Then, there’s Peter Greer’s Mission Drift, which shows how organizations are prone to wander from their original missions. Organizations, like individuals, are prone to “make their own gods.” So, Greer’s perspective and advice will be helpful to any organizational leader.
Finally, Jim George’s A Leader after God’s Own Heart reveals where my focus needs to be…not on what entertains me or what I’m passionate about…but focused on becoming who God wants me to be.
I hope you’ll join me the rest of this month, as we shoot for the stars!