I don't in any way follow football, but...

by Dan Phillips

...these are pretty amazing:

Now, I think the first is clearly faked, and one or two others are iffy. But the rest? If they're fake, they're fooling me.

Even if they're all fake, we know that athletes pour incredible focus and discipline into what they do. Their whole life is molded around their sport, their endeavor: their diet, the use of their spare time. They do things the rest of us can only imagine, and they do them quickly and well.

You can see this sort of discipline in most endeavors. Think of music. To me, the mark of expertise in music in most cases is this: however excellent the music, the musician just looks like he's messing around. Think of Eric Clapton on the guitar. You look at him and think, "Psh. I can do that. He's just goofing."

Then you try it.


See? An expert makes impossible things look easy.

This all makes me think of 1 Corinthians 9:22-27 —

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

In the context, Paul is talking about his Gospel ministry. Yet he turns on his readers generally, and tells them — ordinary, garden-variety Christians, if you will — that they should all learn from athletes.

So I'll turn this to two painful uses:

First painful use: since Paul makes this application, any and every Christian should read this and make application. Does anything about your approach to Christian living look like an athlete in training? Does the effort you give to Bible memorization, for instance, mostly consist in making excuses as to why you don't do it? Do you know the books of the Bible, easily? Can you exress the Gospel concisely, and at length? Can you show fundamental, basic Biblical doctrines and ethics from the Bible?

If not, why not? Would a casual observer conclude that you're not competing for anything nearly as valuable as these football players?

Second painful use: if that's all true of all Christians (and it is), how much truer is it of pastors? You claim to believe in the verbal, plenary inerrant inspiration of the Hebrew and Greek texts. You claim to be a preacher and teacher of those texts. How's your grasp of the art and sciences involved in handling that text? If your grasp is weak, what are you doing about it? How's your knowledge of Biblical theology, of the scope of Scripture and how it applies to life? Can you ably lay out sound doctrine, and refute error? How's your own walk? Do you still work at your preaching, or are you in a comfortable rut? How do you measure up against this text, let alone 1 Timothy 4:7-10 and 2 Timothy 2:1-7? Is your devoted, hard work in these areas evident to all?

If not, why not? Would a casual observer conclude that you're not competing for anything nearly as valuable as these football players?

Fun video. Painful implications.

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