Stadium Thoughts - and Church

This is a photo from the Steelers-Ravens game that Austin and I went to in January. To sum up the experience - WOW!!!

Here's what I love about being at this stadium:
1. We all were gathered for one purpose - to cheer on our team to victory.
2. We all were focused on the same purpose.
3. We were one voice, in unison all the while we were together.
4. We never lost hope when things looked dim (down 21-7 at the half).
5. When the team needed us most, we ALL came together to let them know they were not alone.
6. We were united. Complete strangers, all walks of life, different views and agendas. But for the time we were together, nothing could deter us, separate us or move us off our goal.
7. We were, in a sense, family. No matter how crazy, goofy, fired up anyone got, it didn't matter because we were all a family.

MAN...I wish church could be like that!
Instead, we get caught up in our own agendas.
We get focused on what we want instead of what God desires.
We get focused on US and lose sight of those around us who are so desperately in need of a Savior.
We get divided when things don't go our way, or when things get too uncomfortable.
We lose sight that we have the Living Hope.
It's almost as if we are ashamed of who we are and lost sight of WHOSE we are.

I shared Sunday a passage from 2 Timothy 1 that was a great reminder of how much God has done for us, and that we should not be ashamed to celebrate it, even (especially) when things are going tough. Here's Paul, speaking about being a prisoner for Christ AND LOVING IT! What an honor to be in chains for the gospel. And then he goes on to talk about how GREAT this God of ours is. "Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day." (vs. 12)
In chains he is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. In chains he is not going to shy away from being a witness, running the risk of being called a fool for the sake of Christ. He has entrusted his very life until the day of judgment knowing that God will take care of him as He promised!

If we're all on the same team, pulling for the same hope and promise, seeing lives changed and redeemed from death - shouldn't that get us on your feet? Shouldn't that get us a little fired up, enough to want to share it with anyone who needed to hear it? Shouldn't that get us, as His body, fired up to GO and BE the changers He's called us to be? That's my prayer for us and for any church that is seeking to be a difference maker in their community.

Let's get our game faces on, church!