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Page Airing up the Ball John Baugh One of the
ministries I enjoy at church is sharing children’s moments. You probably know
what a children's moment is, but I will explain. Just before our pastor
begins his message each Sunday morning, the children of our congregation
(those who are old enough to not be in the nursery) are invited to come down
to the altar and sit with whoever has volunteered to do children’s moment for
that day. There are several people (laymen and women) in our congregation who
enjoy doing children’s moments and we take turns, so I probably do six or
eight of these mini messages each year. As it happens, my last moment with
the kids was Super Bowl Sunday (the day of the US-National Professional
Football Championship). I originally intended to do a message concerning
football players, their jobs as a part of the team, the need for them to give
100% effort and how that relates to our lives of Christian service. I like to
use props when I do children's moments and so that Sunday morning I went
looking for our football. When I found it, the condition was as illustrated
in the photo.
That’s a
pretty sad condition for any football, but if you look at the photo you might
be able to see that this was a pretty good football at one time. As I looked
at the ball, trying to decide if it was worthwhile to clean it and air it up,
I decided to change my children's moment message. I’ll share the version I
presented that day here. By the way
when I present these messages to the Children, for the most part I ignore the
several hundred adults that are seated in the pews of our sanctuary,
listening as they wait for me to finish. My messages seem to be about as
popular with the adults as they are with the children and when an adult tells
me that they enjoyed the message I tell them that I try to make the messages
simple enough for the adults to understand and if I am able to accomplish
that the messages usually make perfect sense to the children! Here is my football message: “Do you
know what this is? Yes, it is a football. Since this is Super Bowl Sunday I
thought we might talk about football and I brought this old ball to use.
Actually at one time this was a very good football but it looks a little sad
today, doesn't it? You see, this football is only about half filled with air.
Its dirty, beat up and it looks pretty bad. Actually, in this condition it is
not much good for anything. Many Christians are like this football. All of
the right stuff is there. We were well constructed and at one time we were
properly equipped to serve God. Another way of putting that is that we were
“suitable for use”. The thing is, at one time this football was in good shape
and suitable for use in any game, but not any more. The sad
thing is that the ball was not properly cared for and over time it has become
almost useless. Before any football is placed into play in a game, the
equipment personnel make certain it is suitable for use in the game. If it is
not, it is tossed back into the locker and never used. If it goes long enough
like this, eventually it is no good for anything. Maybe it's
the same with Christians. When we accept Christ, God’s Holy Spirit comes to
live within each of us. Just like a fully aired up, brand new football, we
are fully suitable for use by our Master. However, some Christians almost
immediately begin losing the things that God wants us to have. They sit
around and lose their closeness to the Lord. Then they lose their spirit.
They forget to pray, read their Bible and spend time with God each day and
pretty soon, just like this sad, dirty old football, they are no longer all
that useful. They look a little like a Christian, just like this looks a
little like a football, but the truth is they are not much good, because they
have become empty of the things that God needs in them. You might say that
they let the Holy Spirit of God leak out, just like the air has leaked out of
this dirty, dried up old ball. You see if
a football is not properly cared for - cleaned and oiled and kept filled up,
it is not much use for the game. I think it is the same with Christians. We
need to be cleaned, oiled and filled up each day to remain suitable for use
by God. We get these things we need through daily prayer, reading our Bibles
and seeking out closeness with God. The fact is he is always close and
anxious to keep us filled up with his spirit, but we need to make ourselves
available to him if those things are going to happen. I don't
know about you, but if I am going to be a football, I want to be ready for
use at all times, cleaned and oiled and properly maintained. I want God to
see me at any moment and think, "John is ready to be used right
now." When God looks at Christians that is what he wants, too. He wants
us to be ready for use at all times. Copyright © 2009 - ToBeLikeHim Ministries |
