Monday Morning Devotion-August 14, 2017
Hype
"We alone will build the Temple for the Lord, the God of Israel…Then the local residents tried to discourage and frighten the people of Judah to keep them from their work. Ezra 4:1,4.
It's that time of year again. For the last 7 or 8 years about this time I have revisited the doings of Picture Day for one of our August devotions. This event also is called Media Day and because it extends into the afternoon it segues into Fan Day. So, what's it all about and why should it be a topic for our weekly devotion?
Well, the event that the Lovely Susette and I have covered for the last I-don't-remember-how-many-years represents the clarion call for football. It is not only heard clearly at Florida State University but at all the rest of the college campuses in America where football fever is about to strike.
Yes, the fall of the year is a wonderful time. The leaves change (well they do that a little later here in North Florida) and the weather cools off (it does that a little later here in North Florida, too.) The sport of football captures our fancy and will hold it until a National Champion is crowned in January 2018.
It has been my practice to feature this event as a devotional topic each year because I believe it also says something about the things we place importance on in our lives. And it provides some lessons for us that really are Biblically-based as well.
So back to picture day. We started on the football field where they took the team picture and then took group pictures of the players by positions i.e. running backs here, receivers there, etc.
And let me tell you those guys look good. In their bright, clean garnet-and-gold uniforms they all look like All-Americans. That's because nobody has hit them yet. Which reminds me of a statement that struck a chord with me several years ago: "No one tries to tackle you if you aren't carrying the ball."
So, I went searching and found that I first came across that statement and used it in my devotion on August 29, 2009 ("Carrying the Ball") and repeated it on September 3, 2012 ("Carrying the Ball Again). Here is what I wrote: "Hey, if nobody is trying to tackle you then you won't get banged up, right. You aren't gonna hit the ground, unless you just trip and fall on your own, if no one tries to tackle you. To take it beyond football terms the significance of this is if you just stay back in your comfort zone, don't take the lead or express an opinion, or make an extra effort to do something then it's true that you probably won't catch any grief. But, will you feel fulfilled, like your life has meaning and you are living it to the fullest?"
In the 2009 devotional I elaborated on this thought: "A friend of ours recently was expressing hurt over some things a close friend had said to her. The things that were said hit directly at what her beliefs were. She had always been open about what she believed, in fact her whole life spoke to those things, so that made the slams even more difficult to deal with. So, I point out to her that if she wasn't carrying the ball nobody would have tried to tackle her beliefs. She could have kept them to herself…gone along a different path and not had to deal with this.
But that would not have been the way she wanted to live her life, thus she became vulnerable to stray tacklers as well as gang tacklers because when you have the ball others will come after it."
I recall that many years ago, before his Mayberry days on TV, Andy Griffith made a record of a country bumpkin who got caught in a crowd and rushed into a football game. He had never seen a game before and knew nothing about it. So here's the one thing he deduced from watching the game.
"Friends I seen that afternoon the awful-est fight I have ever seen in my life. It seems that both bunches of them men wanted that funny looking little punkin (football) to play with and I knowed they couldn't have et (eaten) it because they kicked it the live-long afternoon and in never busted."
That's it. You can hide your faith and no one will attack you. Or you can stand up for what you believe but be ready to be tackled (attacked) for it.
When you step into the limelight and the hype surrounds you then you must be prepared to stiff arm, run over or fake out the would-be tacklers.
That's what Florida State and Alabama have elected to do on September 2nd. Most teams prefer to start their season by playing a cupcake (i.e. an easy overmatched opponent) so as not to risk a loss in the first game. Not so with the Seminoles and the Crimson Tide who will likely be ranked #1 and #2 going into the game.
Those high expectations have led to a tremendous amount of hype being directed to the game. Who will remain standing under the heavy hype that comes to fruition in the evening nationwide telecast on the Saturday of a holiday (Labor Day) weekend.
In our scripture lesson, we see a case of the hype that was drawing attention to the work of the people of Israel. They had been living in exile for many years because of the Babylonians. Finally a King (Cyrus) came into power who was sympathetic to their cause and let them return home to rebuild the temple that had been destroyed.
It was not going to be an easy task because in addition to the endless hours of hard construction work they would have to endure the ridicule and taunts of the townsfolk. Nevertheless, they knew the people wouldn't harm them because they had King Cyrus' blessing to do the work.
Here's what happened in this "hype game." They worked on and the building continued through the reign of Cyrus and into the reign of King Darius. "As always God was faithful to those who were faithful to Him. He used a king, Darious, who was not a follower to make a decree that the workers would be left alone" and the temple was completed.
"God had provided the interference for the faithful who had stepped out and were running with the ball. All those would-be tacklers were blocked, and in 515 AD the temple was completed.
When God calls you to do something don't worry about the hype. As FSU Coach Jimbo Fisher said: "At the end of the day hype goes away." At the end of your day you will realize that God is bigger than any hype and He will block out all those would-be tacklers who want to bring you down.
Prayer: Lord give us the courage to face up to the hype keeping in mind that you will block out all those who would discourage us. Amen!
***Author's note: Trust in the Lord this week in all things and the hype will fade away.