Author: Frank

Flashback Friday: Gladiators

Frank

It’s a little early for one of my flashbacks, only going back two weeks, but it is worth revisiting after the tragedy that ended Junior Seau’s life. This was a post on our lust for violence in sports. Was Seau another casualty? It’s too soon to say, but our appetite for the hardest hit has not been satisfied.

“You will never give your approval to those foolish racing and throwing feats, and yet more foolish leapings. You will never find pleasure in injurious or useless exhibitions of strength. Certainly you will not regard with approval the strivings after an artificial body that aim at surpassing the Creator’s work.” -Tertullain (c. 197)

“In the chariot games, who does not shudder at the madness of the people brawling among themselves?” -Mark Minucius Felix (c. 200)

“Yet they call these “sports” in which human blood is shed!” -Lactantius (c. 304-313)

*Quotes from A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, David Bercot, ed. More thoughtful insight from our Church Fathers can be found at this blog post from the Vatopaidi Greek Orthodox Monastery.

“Are you entertained?” -Maximus (Gladiator, 2000)

As I write, I’m watching Sportscenter on ESPN as they discuss the upcoming NFL draft. Ironically right after debating the characters and checkered pasts of prospective draftees and whether that will affect their draft positions and potential career they continue the story of the “bounties” that the New Orleans Saints paid out to their players based on how vicious the hit and/or the star status of their victim. The NFL came down strong on the Saints, suspending just about everyone in the front office and coaching staff and the question now is not if, but how hard, the NFL will penalize the players involved [those sentences have recently come down: a year suspension for a linebacker, 3-5 games for two others. More penalties may still come]. Meanwhile we cheer on convicted felons (Michael Vick, Ray Lewis, Pacman Jones, et al) and alleged felons (Cam Newton) so long as they help our fantasy football team.

Two days ago [April 21] in the NHL playoffs, Phoenix Coyote winger Raffi Torres laid out the Chicago Blackhawks Marian Hossa, who had to be taken off the ice in a stretcher. Torres is suspended indefinitely [now reduced to 25 games and is under appeal] (his third suspension of the year). Media outlets like USA Today question if the on-ice violence has skated out of control. (Since the start of the playoffs, the NHL has suspended 8 players and fined two more, not including the pending judgment on Torres.) The Governor General of Canada (Canadian proxy to Queen Elizabeth II, yes I had to look that up), David Johnston, calls the violence this season anti-Canadian and undermines Canadian culture. Serious words considering that hockey flows through Canadian blood.

As aghast as we make ourselves out to be over these trends, our eyes are glued to ESPN’s “Top Plays” which highlight the hardest cross-check in hockey or tackle in football. We were just as complicit in baseball’s steroid scandal, as we drooled over highlights of “back-to-back jacks!” “walk-offs” and “bombs” made more frequent by the use of performing enhancing substances. And our money lines the pockets of basketball millionaires who complain about playing for certain coaches (Dwight Howard, who has his own post coming), having to feed their family (Latrell Sprewell and many others), or not getting paid to play in the Olympics (Dwyane Wade) as we wear their jerseys, buy their shoes, and pay tickets to watch.

At what point are we going to pay to watch “athletes” try to kill each other in the arena as was the case in ancient Rome? Oh wait, the popularity of boxing, “the gentleman’s sport” or the “sport of kings”, is being usurped by Mixed Martial Arts. (interestingly it is argued that the popularity of professional boxing began to wane when in nationally telivised bouts a year apart two fighters died. Benny Paret went into a coma after sustaining 29 straight hits, with 18 blows coming in six seconds, from Emile Griffith before the referee called the fight in 1962. A year later when Davey Moore lost to Sugar Ramos by knockout, he hit his neck on the bottom rope as he fell damaging his brain stem.)

And it’s not even isolated to sports. Cross “The Running Man” with “Battle Royale” and you get this year’s biggest box-office hit, “The Hunger Games“.

So where’s the line? How violent do sports need to become to turn us away? How much more can we tolerate overbearing parents fighting at Little League games before we’re disgusted to the point of not participating? How much more corruption do we need to see in amateur athletics (I’m looking at you college football) before we say enough is enough and turn of the major networks who pay out billions to broadcast athletes that don’t get paid.

I can’t cast stones as I’m as guilty as anyone. But the recent headlines have caused me to pause and reflect on what I value and why I’m such a sports addict. Truth be told, I haven’t had cable or satellite in nearly ten years. I always say if I were to subscribe, it would be for sports. As I’ve noticed my interest wane just by not watching as frequently, I wonder if it wasn’t for the internet if I’d even care at all. But I still want my fix. Last year I swore off college football over the absurdity of conference realignment. But I couldn’t stay away. I’ve lost interest in the NFL as I no longer spend all day Sunday watching games. Yet I participated in a fantasy football league last year. When is enough going to be enough? I’m not asking you, I am asking myself. Am I entertained?

Homeless Jesus

Frank
“Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Matthew 8:20

A headline over the weekend caught my attention. It was a story about how off-duty LAPD officers were helping a cat rescue organization to save dozens of stray cats on Skid Row. The irony of this heart-warming story is that living among these cats are hundreds of homeless people. And while these volunteers are trying to find caring and loving homes for the kittens they save, I wonder if they have the same care and concern in their hearts for the people living there on the street. Interestingly, the news left out the part about the church who had been taking care of the cats as a secondary concern while ministering to the homeless. That church can’t afford its rent and will have to move, leaving the cats. Sure there are other churches, other ministries, and other volunteer organizations in and around Skid Row to take up the slack meeting the needs of the people there, but it seemed like a glaring omission in the media coverage.

That news got my wheels turning and reminded me how just a weekend before I bought a new mattress for our master bed. It was past time to replace our second-hand mattress that my wife and I have been sleeping on ever since we were married, so we took advantage of a deal at Costco. As I was loading the mattress to the top of my SUV many commented on how I was going to have a great night’s sleep that night. Feeling pretty good about myself, I pulled out of the parking lot and got stuck at a red light. There, at the intersection, was a homeless man asking for change. I felt embarrassed giving him a relative pittance while we talked about the quality of sleep and the comfort of my new bed. He wasn’t critical at all, in fact he could have been any one of the other shoppers at Costco wishing me well, but the circumstances from where he was relating hit me to my very core. Here I was, taking home a new mattress, talking about quality of sleep to a guy who that night would be sleeping under a bush.

And the wheels in my head kept turning, reminding me of a date I had with my wife down in downtown LA a few months ago. After a delicious dinner, the group we were with walked down to a trendy pastry bakery/restaurant. The place was packed and the line for dessert went out the door. The restaurant side of the house was bustling with Gen-X-ers dressed to be seen. But just outside the door were two men, a father and a son, who were wearing the same clothes they’ve been wearing for weeks, if not months. They weren’t pushy or overbearing to ask for change. In fact they just sat right outside the door quietly, carrying on a conversation with whomever would listen. After our expensive dinner and debaucherous dessert, it was literally the least we could do to buy these guys some coffee. While our friends waited, we handed the cups over and engaged in a brief conversation. After retuning to our group, one of our friends told us, “oh, you guys are so sweet.” Sad, my heart responded that sweet had nothing to do with it as I had to fight back the criticism that my wife and I appeared to be the only two who cared.

A couple of weeks ago, one of my best friends who leads a church in Bakersfield, inspired by “freegans“, shared how they have partnered with a local Trader Joes to provide food to one of the local food banks. Trader Joes has a bad reputation for throwing out food that is perfectly good, but not “pretty enough” to put on their shelves or that hit the sell-by date. So he and his wife started “dumpster diving” and then approached Trader Joes to start working together to provide that perfectly good food to the homeless. Twice a week they fill several shopping carts with food and either take it to the bank or distribute it first-hand in the community.

Another irony hit me as my church started to get more involved with our local shelter. As we surveyed their needs, they told us they more than enough volunteers to help with their soup kitchen but they still had a huge need there. They said they had no volunteers to help on Wednesdays and Sundays. Why? Because most, if not all, of their volunteers were from churches. Something about religion that God accepts comes to mind…

Do you know what else is ironic? Jesus was homeless. The Son of God, seated at the right hand of the Father, walked this earth with nothing. Consider the scripture above as you read the account of the Samaritan woman in John 4. From her point of view, Jesus was no different than a homeless beggar asking for change at an intersection. Think of that the next time you’re stuck at a red light.

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:48

This post is part of a blog carnival hosted by my good friend, Peter Pollock. Visit his site for more entries on the topic of “much“.

Legacy

Frank

Chuck Colson passed away over the weekend. Christian conservative, founder of Prison Fellowship, former Nixon aide and Watergate conspirator… the reflections on the man, his faith, and his legacy take many different views depending on where one falls on the faith and politics spectrum. Here’s just a small sampling:

  • Frank Schaeffer: An Evangelical Homophobic Anti-Woman leader passes on
  • Christianity Today: Remembering Charles Colson, a Man Transformed (among others)
  • The Christian Post: Christian Leaders Remember Their Hero Chuck Colson Among Media Skepticism (among others)
  • Get Religion: On Chuck Colson: Can Reporters See Past Watergate?
  • Internet Monk: Eulogies and Dyslogies for Charles Colson

I don’t really have much to add; I didn’t know the man and was born in the aftermath of Watergate. My politics in general aligned with his, though I bristle at the notion of a Religious Right. I included Schaeffer’s controversial post above to point out that not everyone sees the man the same way and politics often cloud our perspectives.

The legacy I want to focus on however, has nothing to do with politics per se. I knew the name, and associated it with the Religious Right, but it wasn’t until I started to listen to his daily radio program, Breakpoint, that I really began to take notice. When I started this blog, Colson’s words from his program and from his colleagues on his website, were in the back of my mind when I named it Public Christianity: The Opposite PC. You may have disagreed with Colson’s politics, but it would be hard to argue against his ministry to engage the culture around us with our faith. In fact, I kept links to his website alongside Sojourners to encourage that engagement, regardless of political affiliation. (And I’m sad to see that SoJo has yet to post anything on Colson’s passing)

So Colson has passed on. Eric Metaxis, author of the best-selling book Bonhoeffer: Paster, Martyr, Prophet, Spy now takes on his radio program. Fitting, as Bonhoeffer is another who felt the fire of the Holy Spirit to engage his culture with his faith. So that torch has been passed to the next generation. How will we engage our culture in Colson’s wake? Will we protest and picket? Will we “get out the vote”? Or will we live out our faith actively in our daily lives, exhibiting the love of Christ and his call to discipleship to those around us through ministries such as Prison Fellowship? Will Colson’s legacy ultimately be political, or will it be transforming?

Dangerous

Frank

Love this new song from KJ-52. Key lyrics that hit me every time I hear it:

Can’t forgive, or forget
We hold on, and it’s dangerous
dangerous…
It’s obvious that you’re hurt
That’s the role you play
The one where you blame
and push everybody away

Gladiators

Frank

“You will never give your approval to those foolish racing and throwing feats, and yet more foolish leapings. You will never find pleasure in injurious or useless exhibitions of strength. Certainly you will not regard with approval the strivings after an artificial body that aim at surpassing the Creator’s work.” -Tertullain (c. 197)

“In the chariot games, who does not shudder at the madness of the people brawling among themselves?” -Mark Minucius Felix (c. 200)

“Yet they call these “sports” in which human blood is shed!” -Lactantius (c. 304-313)

*Quotes from A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, David Bercot, ed. More thoughtful insight from our Church Fathers can be found at this blog post from the Vatopaidi Greek Orthodox Monastery.

“Are you entertained?” -Maximus (Gladiator, 2000)

As I write, I’m watching Sportscenter on ESPN as they discuss the upcoming NFL draft. Ironically right after debating the characters and checkered pasts of prospective draftees and whether that will affect their draft positions and potential career they continue the story of the “bounties” that the New Orleans Saints paid out to their players based on how vicious the hit and/or the star status of their victim. The NFL came down strong on the Saints, suspending just about everyone in the front office and coaching staff and the question now is not if, but how hard, the NFL will penalize the players involved. Meanwhile we cheer on convicted felons (Michael Vick, Ray Lewis, et al) and alleged felons (Cam Newton) so long as they help our fantasy football team.

Two days ago in the NHL playoffs, Phoenix Coyote winger Raffi Torres laid out the Chicago Blackhawks Marian Hossa, who had to be taken off the ice in a stretcher. Torres is suspended indefinitely (his third suspension of the year). Media outlets like USA Today question if the on-ice violence has skated out of control. (Since the start of the playoffs, the NHL has suspended 8 players and fined two more, not including the pending judgment on Torres.) The Governor General of Canada (Canadian proxy to Queen Elizabeth II, yes I had to look that up), David Johnston, calls the violence this season anti-Canadian and undermines Canadian culture. Serious words considering that hockey flows through Canadian blood.

As aghast as we make ourselves out to be over these trends, our eyes are glued to ESPN’s “Top Plays” which highlight the hardest cross-check in hockey or tackle in football. We were just as complicit in baseball’s steroid scandal, as we drooled over highlights of “back-to-back jacks!” “walk-offs” and “bombs” made more frequent by the use of performing enhancing substances. And our money lines the pockets of basketball millionaires who complain about playing for certain coaches (Dwight Howard, who has his own post coming), having to feed their family (Latrell Sprewell and many others), or not getting paid to play in the Olympics (Dwyane Wade) as we wear their jerseys, buy their shoes, and pay tickets to watch.

At what point are we going to pay to watch “athletes” try to kill each other in the arena as was the case in ancient Rome? Oh wait, the popularity of boxing, “the gentleman’s sport” or the “sport of kings”, is being usurped by Mixed Martial Arts. (interestingly it is argued that the popularity of professional boxing began to wane when in nationally telivised bouts a year apart two fighters died. Benny Paret went into a coma after sustaining 29 straight hits, with 18 blows coming in six seconds, from Emile Griffith before the referee called the fight in 1962. A year later when Davey Moore lost to Sugar Ramos by knockout, he hit his neck on the bottom rope as he fell damaging his brain stem.)

And it’s not even isolated to sports. Cross “The Running Man” with “Battle Royale” and you get this year’s biggest box-office hit, “The Hunger Games“.

So where’s the line? How violent do sports need to become to turn us away? How much more can we tolerate overbearing parents fighting at Little League games before we’re disgusted to the point of not participating? How much more corruption do we need to see in amateur athletics (I’m looking at you college football) before we say enough is enough and turn of the major networks who pay out billions to broadcast athletes that don’t get paid.

I can’t cast stones as I’m as guilty as anyone. But the recent headlines have caused me to pause and reflect on what I value and why I’m such a sports addict. Truth be told, I haven’t had cable or satellite in nearly ten years. I always say if I were to subscribe, it would be for sports. As I’ve noticed my interest wane just by not watching as frequently, I wonder if it wasn’t for the internet if I’d even care at all. But I still want my fix. Last year I swore off college football over the absurdity of conference realignment. But I couldn’t stay away. I’ve lost interest in the NFL as I no longer spend all day Sunday watching games. Yet I participated in a fantasy football league last year. When is enough going to be enough? I’m not asking you, I am asking myself. Am I entertained?

Homecoming

Frank

A few weeks of insanity at work (wish it was the workout plan, I could stand to lose a couple of pounds) and a couple of trips later, I’m home and at peace. Of course, Monday means back to the grind, but I need a reminder that this is not my home. Even though after being away my own pillow and bed feel great, it is nothing compared to the home God has prepared for me. Some favorites from Switchfoot, Mercy Me, Building 429 and The City Harmonic:

Two Thieves

Frank

What do your prayers sound like? When the pressures of life are pressing you down, when it feels like there is no hope at all, when there is no other place to turn do you pray, “aren’t you the Messiah? I need to you get me out of this. Save me”? Or instead do you simply pray, “Jesus, remember me”?

I don’t know why, but when I read the account of Jesus on the cross in Luke 23 and reflected on the words of the two thieves crucified with him, I couldn’t help but think of myself. I thought about how I approach God with the attitude, “you created the universe, you can fix this!” as though God owes me something. It convicted me to think of the second thief and his response, “don’t you fear God?” (v 40) as I ask myself the same question. I thought about how Jesus instructed not to pray by rambling on and on and how simple a prayer it is to surrender what I want and just say “Jesus, remember me.” (v 42)

I thought of how God is just and by his grace he saves me from all that I deserve. Yet there are times I deserve what I get. When I make my job the most important thing in my life and am later all stressed out. When I stop being giving to my family and act surprised when my children stop obeying. When I fail to ask the simple request for Jesus to remember me and wonder why life seems so hard. Then the second thief replies, “we are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man [Jesus] has done nothing wrong.” (v 41)

No, Jesus did not deserve to die like he did. And he does not deserve to be treated like a cosmic vending machine, or some strip mall self-help guru. Sure, he can get me off this tree, but I need to be honest and ask myself do I want this for me, or for him?

Lord Jesus, remember me.

Hunger Games

Frank

Every wandering eye, every unfaithful thought starts from the same place. Hunger. Emotional and physical needs aren’t being met. “Love cups” or “love tanks” aren’t filled and a person is left feeling empty and in need.

An affair never starts with the intent of being unfaithful. It starts when someone else, a stranger, a coworker, meets a need that isn’t being met at home. Maybe it’s listening and relating. Maybe it’s paying a long-needed compliment. Maybe it’s the physical attraction that goes along with a little flirt. However minor that first step towards cheating may seem, it still ends in the same place.

And it all starts from being hungry.

Throughout the Bible, God relates the unfaithfulness of His people to adultery, giving the image of His relationship to the Israelites as equivalent to that of a man and wife. The New Testament goes further and calls the Church Jesus’ bride. And so the temptations above, made strong by hunger are the same.

We hunger because we think our Lord and Savior cannot satisfy. We don’t believe His promises. We don’t count on Him when times are bad. And so we stop believing that He completely satisfies and we fool ourselves into being hungry for something else.

Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things
(Psalm 107:8-9)

And we can be unfaithful to our churches for the same reason. Sometimes we hunger because we are not being fed. How long have you been nursing on milk, when you should be eating solid food by now? (Hebrews 5:11-13) And so churches around us are wasting away, starving to death, because no one is being fed.

It is then, in these times, when the pangs of hunger are so overwhelming that any little morsel resembling truth suckers us into consuming whole meals of false teaching. Paul instructs the church in Ephesus how to grow and mature through solid teaching, so that “we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.” (Ephesians 4:14)

It’s all hunger games. We allow ourselves to wither and starve when we don’t feed on God’s Word, when we are not trusting in Him.

[H]is delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
(Psalm 1:2-3)
[B]lessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.
(Jeremiah 17:7-8)

You don’t have to starve when you have nourishment right at your fingertips, when you have a loving God who longs for you to be satisfied. Don’t go hungry and fall into the temptation of another. Another lover, another church, or another God.

Take One For the Team

Frank

The eleventh chapter of Kyle Idleman’s book, Not a Fan almost had me stumped. Though the title of his book relates to a sports meme, he actually doesn’t spend that much time talking sports. That’s where I come in. But I was struggling coming up with a sports analogy to this chapter’s theme of dying to self. Then this weekend, the biggest sports headline (other than March Madness) fell right in my lap.

We all knew Peyton Manning would be looking for greener pastures long before he was officially released. And when I saw the writing on the wall I told my football fanatic friends that “the Denver Broncos should make a serious play to get him.” What? After all the Mile High Messiah did last year? Of course! Doesn’t it make sense to have your potential franchise quarterback with major technical flaws study under one of the most technically proficient passers in the game? I guess I wasn’t the only one who thought so as sports-talk radio and the Internet speculated away all weekend as Peyton Manning met with Hall of Famer, and Broncos exec, John Elway to talk shop. (Let’s pretend I actually got this post out on time and Manning hadn’t yet met with the Dolphins and Titans)

So what does this have to do with dying to self? Well the consensus in the talk circuit was that someone with such a will to win as Tim Tebow displayed last year wouldn’t put up with being a second stringer after all he accomplished last season. (A good example of this opinion is the Denver Post’s Mark Kiszla, who knows the Broncos better than just about anybody.) But I think that’s where the prognosticators are wrong. If any number-one could take a back seat to a future Hall of Fame quarterback, even if he were to pull a Brett Favre and postpone retirement a dozen times, it’s Tebow. That is, if his off field humility matches his on field display of faith. (And based on his many mission trips, hospital visits, and that goofy smile that drives me nuts, I suspect it does)

Would there be a better example of taking one for the team than the NFL’s most popular player (according to multiple polls last season) riding pine so that he can get better under the tutelage of one of the all time greats? If that’s not dying to oneself, I don’t know what is.

But I have a better example: Eric Liddell. If the name isn’t familiar, think Chariots of Fire. Yeah, that guy. If you don’t remember the two hour long epic and its Christian underpinnings, one of the driving plot lines was Liddell’s refusal to participate in the 100 meter dash, his best race, at the 1924 Olympics because that would have required him to compete on a Sunday, the Christian Sabbath (he also didn’t run the 4×100 or 4×400 relays for the same reason). Instead he focused his training on winning the 400 meter dash, of which he was a significant underdog. Naturally, he won and set a World Record in the process.

He literally sacrificed his best for the greater glory of God. There was no guarantee he would win the 400. It was unlikely he would even make the finals. And if the race didn’t have such a storybook ending, could you imagine the backlash over his religion? Instead Liddell leveraged his new found fame to become a famous preacher and author. Oh wait, no he didn’t. Instead he went back to China, where he was born on the mission field, and continued his calling as a missionary. In fact, he didn’t rely on his celebrity to keep him out of an internment camp when the Japanese occupied China just prior to World War II. He had opportunity to leave, but refused. And instead of living the life of an celebrity athlete or even a recognizable face in the Christian community, he died humbly from a brain tumor after serving the other missionaries and youth held with him in captivity.

So the fan of Jesus watches the movie and listens to sports-talk radio and might get inspired by the sacrificial act of an athlete. But does that inspiration spur them on to “love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24)? It’s unlikely you or I will ever have to face decisions like Tebow or Liddell. But that doesn’t mean we don’t face forks in the road nearly every day where we must choose whether to live for ourselves or die for Christ. A fan cheers for himself, but the follower sacrifices for others.

I woke up this morning with this song in my head:

Oh the wondrous cross,
Oh the wondrous cross,
Bids me come and die
and find that I
may truly live

Die to live. Take one for the team. Don’t just be a fan.

This post continues my series blogging through the book, Not A Fan by Kyle Idleman. I encourage you to follow along by clicking on the Not A Fan label to the right. And I urge you to pick up a copy of this book for yourself.

Slave to the Grind

Frank

It is common to hear, when an athlete tests positive for performance enhancing drugs, that there was no way it could have been an accident. When competing at such an elite level, these athletes are meticulous in what they ingest into their bodies. My favorite example is when Manny Ramirez tested positive… for a fertility drug used by women! (It masks synthetic testosterone, in case you were wondering) To say he could have taken such a drug by accident is absurd. These athletes depend not only on their skill, but most importantly on their health. If they are out of shape or sickly, their performance suffers and ultimately so does their paycheck.

Ever wonder how movie stars stay so fit and trim? They make enough money to hire personal chefs and personal trainers to ensure their fitness. And their lifestyles afford them the luxury to take as much time as they need to get in shape for that next big role. Like the athlete, their livelihoods depend on their health and appearance.

Simply put, at the superstar level, these people make their bodies their slave.

Paul wrote about this in his first letter to the Corinthians, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

Or without the religious jargon, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. So I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that I will not be disqualified for the prize.”

Every detail controlled. Every minute of training accounted for. Every calorie counted. The elite makes his and or her body their slave.

Slave isn’t a word we use a lot these days. There’s just too much baggage that loads the term. Even New Testament scriptures about slaves obeying their masters get a 20th Century gloss-over to apply to employee-boss relationships. Never mind the fine print that follows, “as if you are serving God, not men.” But lets call it what it is. Slavery. Bondage. No rights. No freedom. Slavery.

We are all slaves to something. We might be slaves to our jobs. We might be slaving over housework. We have all been, and may continue to be, slaves to sin. We are slaves to the grind.

But are you a slave to Christ? In the tenth chapter of Kyle Idleman’s book Not a Fan, Kyle talks about slavery. Not the whips and chains version. Or the kidnapped and shipped overseas to be sold at auction version. But the slavery where we give up all our rights, all our privileges, and make Jesus Christ our master. He makes the contrast that fans of Jesus never become his slave. They cry out to defend their freedoms: my pastor said this, but I think… our church voted to have… I know the Bible says, but… What we think what we want is more important than what Jesus commands. Oh yeah, and majority rules. The twelve Apostles could have out-voted Jesus anytime, but they functioned like a consensus group.

NO! Jesus’ Apostles may not have known what they were getting themselves into, but they knew they were giving up everything. Oh yeah, that’s a popular Bible verse: “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33) Anyone. Everything. Or you cannot. There is no grey area of compromise here. There is no voting. There is no sensitivity to your rights as an individual. No, Jesus is you master and you are his slave.

If you were to give up drinking on the weekends because you were training for a marathon, you would probably be encouraged by your friends. But if you gave up drinking because you are a slave to Jesus, you should expect to be mocked. If you go on a diet at the beginning of the year because losing weight was a New Year’s resolution, most would relate and say they’re doing the same thing. But fast from something for 40 days to draw closer to God (when it’s not prescribed on a church calendar to do so) and few would understand. A friend invites you to an R-rated movie and you turn it down because you can’t afford it, your friend would understand. But try and explain to someone that you don’t have cable at home because of the filth that permeates every station. Cutting back on expenses because times are tough? Sure, why not? Cutting back on expenses because you give at least 10% of what you earn back to God, and you’re part of a legalistic church.

Which of those examples did you relate most to? As you go about your walk with Jesus are you really submitting to him as a slave? Or are you twisting his teaching to suit your wants and needs and making Jesus your slave?

This post continues my series blogging through the book, Not A Fan by Kyle Idleman. I encourage you to follow along by clicking on the Not A Fan label to the right. And I urge you to pick up a copy of this book for yourself.