God Wants Players Not Spectators

It was a college football game. The crisp air enveloped the stadium packed with spectators. It looked like the stadium was sprinkled with red and white confetti on one side and blue and gold on the other. These colors popped from jackets, scarves, hats and jerseys that branded the wearer with the team they pledged allegiance.

And if the visual stimulation wasn’t enough there was the noise. Noise that split the air with the collective voice from stadium seats in response to the action on the field and the shrill chirps of horns that seemed to bounce off the cloudless sky.

The time clock ticked off the final seconds in the fourth quarter. The field’s turf was a mottled green and brown blanket of trampled grass and chunks of wet dirt. Turf torn by players covered by mud discernable by random patches of their team colors that escaped the dirt. Jersey numbers barely visible through grass stains and dirt. Players whose sole purpose was to carry a leather covered ball across the white line at the end of the field.

The time clock hit zero and the game was over for the players.

Players caked in mud exhausted by a hard played game walk off the field. Players trying to ignore the pain in their bruised bodies. Players trying to shake-off personal blame for lost yardage and focus on doing better the next game. Players celebrating their team’s victory. Players that lost today’s game, hopeful for future victories.

The time clock hit zero and the game was over for the spectators.

Spectators began to move to their next agenda item of the day. But along with their collective movement to the exits there was also something very solitary. They were the comments of a spectator that flew like chunks of mud kicked up by a player’s cleats.

Sandy, a mother of one of the players, couldn’t help but overhear these comments as she exited the stadium. The spectator shot out, “That player is too slow. That player can’t control the ball. That player cost us the game!” She pulled the zipper to close her jacket not because of the crisp air but almost as a shield from the piercing words directed at players on her son’s team.

The comments made by the spectator wouldn’t exit Sandy’s mind. They were elusive like those pesky flies that sneak in when you open your screen door. They were unsettling and she couldn’t put her finger on why until she got home.

Serenity enveloped her as she stepped into her home. It was in this quiet that her first thought, once as elusive as a fly, set itself down on a football field.

She no longer saw the game of football with natural eyes but with the eyes of her faith. The football game was no longer the game she watched from her stadium seat—but reflected a battle in a spiritual war. This revelation urged her to look deeper into the game of football and spiritual war battles to see if there were similarities. So, she asked questions.

What about the season of play? Spiritual war battles aren’t limited by a season and are played daily. But there will be a final tournament game.

What about that leather covered ball? The ball in play is not a leather covered ball but specific work handed to a player by God to carry over the white line at the end of the field.

What about the teams and their objective? There are two teams with different objectives.

The first team’s jerseys read, “God’s Children” and a player’s objective is to take the ball they’ve been handed and carry it over the white goal line. This team has players that look slow, have trouble controlling the ball and make mistakes on the field. A gambler wouldn’t bet on this team to win.

The second team’s jerseys read, “World’s Children” and their objective is to stop the first team from carrying the ball over the white goal line. This team has players that are fast, play by their own rules and trained to spot weakness in a player on the opposing team. A gambler bets on this team to win.

Her first questions answered, it was time for her next elusive thought to set down—and it did. It set itself down on the stadium’s seats filled with spectators with an allegiance to the “God’s Children” team. These spectators were called the church.

There were young, old, men, women and each unique. There was no cookie cutter duplicates in that crowd of spectators. They looked comfortable sitting on those stadium seats, some holding a cup full of their beverage of choice and dressed to keep the chill of the air from them. They were interested in the game but had never stepped out on the field to carry a ball across the goal line.

Sandy wanted to ask, “Why? Why hadn’t they stepped out on the field?” But she knew this was a question each spectator needed to ask themselves. Only they had the answer.

Her next thought didn’t set down but hovered over her son and his teammates—the players.

These young men were committed to the game and each other. They practiced and played on that field until it hurt. She witnessed them endure taunts from the opposing team’s spectators and players and piercing words from those that shared the same allegiance. They continued to practice, play and persevere despite the difficulty, pain and relentless drive of their opponents to stop them.

Sandy realized that the attributes in her son and teammates were also needed by players on the “God’s Children” team in the spiritual war game. But on the “God’s Children” team the spectator’s comments about players on her son’s team took on a new meaning for her.

No player is too slow, can’t handle the ball or makes mistakes that cost the game. They are handed a ball to carry across the white line and are chosen and equipped to do that in a specific game at a specific time. Their performance will not go unrewarded.

Her elusive thoughts cleared but a question remained. Am I a player or a spectator? And, Sandy knew this was a question only she could answer.

Get In The Game

God’s children know a spiritual war is raging and we’re chosen and equipped for specific work God has prepared for us to do.

God wants players to carry the ball over the goal line. Be a player not a spectator.

Scripture and Spiritual War

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:58 (NIV)