Get Off the Bench!

 

Our local NFL team is the Carolina Panthers.   I have been to a few games thanks to the gift of free tickets.  During the last game I witnessed at Bank of America Stadium,  I got to thinking how that football game experience was a metaphor for disciples of Jesus Christ today.  There were 22 players on the football field at any given time, but there were thousands of persons who were spectators in the stands.   Sometimes it seems like we have just a few people who are busy doing the Lord’s work and a whole lot of people on our church membership rolls or even sitting in the pews who are spectators.   As the fans would cheer loudly when the Panthers did well and complain loudly when they did not, it often seems that there are a whole lot of folks who cheer or complain about the Lords work but too few people who are actually “giving their best to the master”.   I am reminded of these words of Jesus from Luke 10: 1-2 which say,  “ 1After this the Lord appointed seventy-two^[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”   If the Carolina Panthers are to have a successful season, they need some good players on the team.  If we as the body of Christ are to be faithful to the commission the Lord has given us to make disciples and follow Jesus, we need more than spectators on the sidelines.  We need workers on God’s team.  If you have been one of the “players” on the body of Christ team, thanks be to God.  If you have been simply a spectator,  God wants you out of your seat and in the game.  Quit being a bench-warmer!-  Pastor Randy Wall 

 

PRAYER

            Lord God,  your Son Christ Jesus called disciples long ago and he calls disciples today.    Give me courage to answer that calling and awareness to see how  I might live out that calling day by day;  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.