The Main Thing

Being in Arizona this past week for the Super Bowl, I was constantly reminded how people absolutely worship professional athletes. The lines of people for autographs. The jerseys, the screaming and yelling for their favorite player. The entire experience brought me back to my youth.My childhood idols were the Dallas Cowboys,  Larry Bird and Darryl Strawberry. In the 1980's, watching them play was appointment viewing. If I missed a game, they were the first people I would look to in the box score to see how they did. Did Straw hit a homer? Did Larry Legend go for another triple-double? I worshipped the ground these guys walked on. I was so obsessed with them that in my sophomore year of high school, I kept my own stats book of every game that Darryl Strawberry and Larry Bird played. (Remember there was no internet in 1989) There is nothing wrong with a child watching a sports team and rooting for that player, but I was obsessed. These guys were my idols.Idols are a real thing in all of our lives. Anything that keeps us from pursuing God is an idol. For 16 year old me, Larry Bird and Darryl Strawberry were my idols. As I grew older, sports continued to be the dominant idol of mine. It would constantly consume me. I needed it, I wanted it.  I wanted it more than anything else.For others, your idol may be your cell phone. It may be your car. Maybe your house, your appearance, your clothes. We all struggle with the material things of this world consuming us but what if I said, your spouse or your children could even be an idol in your life?Woah! Family? Really?God calls us to love him first. The very first commandment says - “You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3 ESV)Man do I mess that 1st commandment up every single day. I put the God of sports first or the God of my smart phone first or the God of my job first. I'm constantly repenting and asking for forgiveness because of the idols in my life.Jesus even speaks to idols in the New Testament in the book of Matthew where he tells us to "Seek first the kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33 ESV). Jesus goes on to say in Matthew "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve." God called himself a "jealous God" (Exodus 20:5 ESV). He wants us to put him first. He wants us to love him first. We must decrease and He must increase.At the end of last week, I attended the Super Bowl Gospel Celebration. At the event, gospel singers, hollywood celebrities and NFL players come together to glorify God through music, and football. One of the highlights of the night was when Cincinnati Bengals Devon Still was honored. Devon gave a speech about his daughter Leah, and how she had been battling cancer for the past 6 months. Devon spoke of God, and how he was his strength. That when he truly didn't know where to turn, all he had was his faith in God and his love for his daughter. It took Devon Still going through the worst moment of his life to realize that God was all we truly had. It reminded me of my failure to put Jesus first, my failure to not have God be all I truly rely on and the importance of daily repentance.We all have so much STUFF in our lives but does it really matter that we have the latest and greatest gadget or the newest pair of Nike sneakers? I love having new STUFF too. I love getting new things. But does it REALLY matter in the end? The answer is no! We can't take this stuff to the grave with us. Let's remember to keep the main thing, the main thing. Seek God first. Make him your priority. When we do that, we can rest in Jesus' love and know that he's in control of our lives. It's my prayer for you and I hope you'd consider praying for me as well.