God and Football?

"...I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ."   Phil. 3:8


     Don't you just love the Steelers? Or the Buckeyes? Or whatever team plays for the city in which you live or the college you went to?  Do you wear your teams colors proudly on game days.  Does you car bear a window sticker or bumper sticker that tells the world how proud you are to be a fan of your favorite team?  Have you ever made a road trip to see them play? Do you plan your Sunday afternoons and Monday evenings around what time the game is on, and whether or not your team is playing?


     Now let me ask you another question.  Do you love God MORE THAN you love your favorite football team.  Do you even love God AS MUCH AS you love your favorite football team? Do you really?  Are you ready to proudly announce to the world that you love God more than you love your favorite team.  That you put Him first before everything else in your life?  Our love for God should be stronger than our love for anything else in life.  If it is not, then we have our priorities wrong. If I loved the Steelers (for example) more than I loved God then it would be as if I had made the Steelers my God rather than God.  We should be more excited at the opportunity to spend time with God than we would be to spend time with someone like Ben Roethlisburger or Troy Polamalu.  


      I do love my Steelers.  But I love my God more.  I wear the black and gold proudly on game days.  But I wear the armour of God daily.  I talk to the Steelers once a week (they can't really hear me as I am actually only shouting at the TV during the game) but I talk to God several times a day. Every Day. What do you do?  Who do you love more?  It's got to make you wonder...


Dear Lord, please help me and my friends to keep our priorities right and to keep You first in our lives.  Sometimes it can be very hard to do and we can't do it without Your help.  Please remind us each time we watch our favorite teams play, that as much as we love them, we should love You even more.  And please help us to do just that.