“Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.’” — Luke 9:23
>> Sign up here for Sports Spectrum devotionals sent right to your email inbox <<
When people think about playoff teams, they probably don’t often think about the Detroit Lions, who have never made it to the Super Bowl. But the Lions advanced to the NFC Championship Game last year, and are riding high again this year with one of the best records in the NFL. Though they have excellent players at the skill positions, the secret ingredient for the Lions is their tough, physical offensive line.
For example, Frank Ragnow, the center, is considered one of the best offensive linemen in the league. A center has a lot of responsibilities: He has to get the ball into the quarterback’s hands every play, block for running and passing plays, and is the leader and communicator for the whole offensive line. In many cases, offensive linemen don’t get much attention (unless they get called for a penalty or if the center makes a bad snap), so they need to be unselfish players and focus on the whole of the team instead of themselves.
Comfort and convenience are some of the most popular “religions” of our times. Though we know we should put God first and be considerate of the feelings and concerns of others, we see a cold-hearted attitude rising higher and higher among people throughout the land. Selfishness is so common it can go unnoticed, and a focus on “self” is on the rise.
The apostle Paul spoke about the era when we think less and less about God and helping others, and more and more about ourselves and our own good: “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good…” (2 Timothy 3:1-3).
Though it can seem like human character is worsening, we don’t have to join the crowd in having a self-centered attitude. Instead, we can study the example of Christ and the leaders of the early churches who worked on behalf of God. The early churches grew through the unselfish service of God’s humble messengers. Even Jesus admitted that following in the footsteps of Christ is not easy. “Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me'” (Luke 9:23). That is, we must turn our focus from “self” and follow Him with all of our selves.
In the beginning, the apostles did almost all of the work in the churches. They preached on a traveling circuit, prayed for everyone, distributed food and ministered to the needs of widows. Soon, others were enlisted to do the charity work so that the apostles could give all of their energy to their calling. When Stephen, Philip and others were chosen to be leaders to minister to the community of believers, they gladly helped the needy and shared their Christian faith. Stephen spoke to a group of unbelievers and pleaded with them to turn to Christ, even though he knew they might reject the message and attack him. But he boldly delivered the Gospel of Christ, not worrying about what they could do to him. In response, the crowd turned into an angry mob.
Until his last breath, Stephen prayed for their salvation even as they stoned him to death. “When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God'” (Acts 7:54-56). As the mob picked up stones and killed him in cold blood, Stephen prayed for their souls just like Jesus did on the cross. In those moments, Stephen showed by his actions that he was willing to go anywhere and do anything to serve the Lord with all his might, no matter how inconvenient or uncomfortable it may be. And he saw the eternal reward for putting God before himself.
As we shift our focus from “self” to following Jesus wholeheartedly, we too will see the eternal reward for putting Him first.
— Bill Kent, Pastor of Memorial Baptist Church, Sylvania, Georgia
>> Do you know Christ personally? Learn how you can commit your life to Him <<
>> Purchase “The Increase 52 Week Devotional” to further grow your relationship with Christ <<
>> Dive more into God’s Word with Sports Spectrum through the YouVersion Bible App <<
If you would like to submit a devotional, please email all submissions to
devotionals@sportsspectrum.com
