Up Our Game

NOTE: My intention of this post was to talk about how we need to be careful about how we live out our faith and use Scripture because when it is used incorrectly it can be a problem. However, after trying to research the story below to have accurate information and not solely rely on my memory, I am not sure if the commentator misspoke or if I misunderstood what he actually said. Regardless, I will describe what I thought happened because the premise still applies.

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My favorite sport is basketball. While it is not my best sport, it is the one I enjoy the most.

Playing. Watching. Coaching. And talking about.

And recently, I had a rare opportunity to watch a game on television.

My favorite team, no less! Go NUGGETS!

However, before my game started, I was catching the end of another game which was a blow-out. And in the post-game coverage, one of the commentators started talking about how one of the players had designed his own shoe.

In pro basketball, a lot of players have their own designer shoes. But this player had input on every aspect of his shoe including the name.

The commentator said that the player had named his shoe after a Bible verse which caught my attention. But the commentator quoted the wrong Bible verse.

Honestly, the mistake bothered me.

Maybe I am being too “judgy”? I mean, I am a pastor.

At least the guy was talking about the Bible. At least he quoted a verse correctly, just attributed it to the wrong place. This was a story about a Christian athlete who is very open about his faith. Isn’t that a good thing?

Doesn’t the Bible say that God’s Word always yields fruit? Couldn’t the commentator have just innocently quoted the wrong verse (happens to pastors all the time)?

Sure, it does.

And that is my point. It bothers me that we (including me) don’t know God’s Word so well that we often misquote it.

We spend hours practicing catching a football, shooting free throws, swinging a bat, running hills, memorizing lines, and strumming chords and blowing notes.

We spend hours scrolling social media.

We spend hours watching television and movies – and can quote entire episodes at the drop of the hat. (I often say that there are two or three shows that I quote all the time in my everyday conversations and people wouldn’t even know where I got it from – that is how naturally I use the quotes).

Shouldn’t God’s Word be so ingrained in our hearts that we can quote it with ease?

A couple of years ago, I was talking to a middle school student waiting to have her school picture taken. I had never met her before, and I have not seen her since, but she was talking about intentionally misbehaving.

As I chatted with her about why she wanted to do this, I casually dropped in things like respecting your parents, treating others how you want to be treated, and the like.

She sincerely looked at me and said, “I have never thought about it that way before.”

I never mentioned Scripture, God, Jesus, or anything else. While that would have been the next step in the conversation, God’s Word was already working on her heart.

Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

This verse does not mean literally hide His Word. It means internalize His Word so strongly that we cannot sin against Him.

While the commentator’s misquoted verse could have still reached many people and planted seeds of God’s truth in their hearts, I would encourage us all to up our game and take our faith as seriously as we do recreational activities such as sports and entertainment.

Let us hide God’s Word in our hearts so strongly that it overflows into our every conversation and our every interaction.

Anyway, I was just thinking…