Commit to the G

A few weeks ago, I headed to Athens, GA to see my alma mater play a home football game.  “Commit to the G” has become the UGA football battle cry tagline.  It encourages players to commit their bodies, brains, and energy to making the team as great as possible.  It also urges the fans to commit to coming to the games, cheering loudly, tailgating longer, and being faithful in showing up- no matter who the opponent is that week.  You can find this tagline printed on t-shirts, on car magnets, and waving on UGA flags.

Seeing this really got me thinking about… don’t you wish that God had this level of commitment from us?

What if we all showed up early for church to tailgate in the parking lot?  Or if we came up with a special #hashtag for each church season to proudly show off our church clothes and view of the pulpit from our seats.

Then I started thinking about the money involved… what if we spent several thousands of dollars each season on buying our seats in the sanctuary, or instead of filling our SUVs with gas to drive to the game each weekend, we gave that money to the church to use for gassing up the church vans to serve the homeless a meal each week.  Think of all the good we could do.

I realize that the likelihood of these things happening is slim.  BUT it got me thinking, what do I/we commit to doing that could be taking away from the glory of God?  It’s really hard to get out of bed on Sunday when you spent all day on the road, walking around a college campus, standing on your feet for 3 hours during a game, and sitting through hours of traffic the day before.  If we say YES to something big on Saturday, then saying YES to God on Sunday can be much more difficult.

I promise I am not trying to hate on college football… because everyone knows that I LOVE college football.  I just think it’s become a socially acceptable form of idolatry for our world.  We worship the players, the field, the coaches, the history, the game day experience, the tailgating friends/family, the FOMO, the clothing/gear, the tailgate food, and so much more.  Most of this is ok… until we put it on a platform above God.  Until it prevents us from tithing, from committing to consistent worship,  and more importantly, until us Committing to the G is more faithful than Committing to the GOD.

What other worldly idols do we have to rethink while transforming our minds?