“Choose this day whom you will serve… but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15) Life is filled with choices. Just look at the various dishes of chicken available to us. We can have fried chicken, baked chicken, grilled chicken, spicy chicken, bbq chicken, chicken pot pie, chicken spaghetti, chicken noodles, or Alice Springs chicken. The list goes on and on.
In the South, football gives us a plethora of teams to choose from. We can cry HailState, Hotty Toddy, Roll Tide, War Eagle, Geaux Tigers, or SMTTT. But, our favorite team is easily deciphered by our chant.
I remember back in the late 60s and early 70s of how my Dad took me to Quitman football games. He always sat my siblings and me on the visitor side close to the fifty-yard line and at the top of the bleachers. He would buy us a bag of boiled peanuts and a coke. Then he would instruct us to sit still and watch the game. Meanwhile, he would follow the line of scrimmage with other men and watch the game from the sideline fence.
Being extremely young, I was very confused who my team and cheerleaders were. One week, the team on my side would be dressed in maroon uniforms, the next, it would be green and gold, black and white, or blue and white. It seemed my team was always different. I did not understand that it was the visiting team. I never knew who to cheer for because my side always looked different.
Today, we could look at many who claim to be Christians and find they are as confused as I was at those ball games. Some spend their life in a barroom on Friday and Saturday, looking for a one-night stand, and then slip in and sing “It is Well With My Soul” on Sunday morning. Others don’t even bother to attend church if the latest idol they are chasing has an event. It may be camping at the river every weekend, sitting in a hunting stand, or fishing a bass tournament.
Our team is known by what we are always talking about! We must beware—neither a ball team, a case of beer, a new deer stand, or another concert will get us into heaven. Only through repentance and faith in Christ will we make God’s team. We can’t cheer and serve the idols of this world and expect God's approval. And if our faith cannot get us to church, I doubt it is the type of faith that can get us to heaven.
Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and they will follow me.” Are you following him? Or does your life resemble the idolatry of sports, parties, hunting, and hobbies? We all have a choice, and the choice we make today will affect our eternal destiny tomorrow. So, it all begs the question… Whose team are you on?
