From the Pulpit: What’s important to you?

Here’s an interesting bit of trivia for you: Who said, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing?” Most people think it was Vince Lombardi, but it was actually said first by “Red” Sanders, who coached football at UCLA from 1949-1957. He is also famous for saying of the UCLA-USC rivalry, “It’s not a matter of life and death, it’s more important than that!” 

I was reminded of that quote while l recently listened to a sports radio talk show that featured some of the biggest sports experts in the country. Despite that distinction, they couldn’t answer their own challenge question, “Who won all of the major sporting events last year?” They all struggled with identifying final four college basketball teams and events like the winners of Wimbledon. Most of us have trouble remembering who won the World Series or the Super Bowl a year or two later. Which makes me wonder, are these events really as important as they are hyped to be? 

The truth is, most of the things that we think are a matter of life and death, or as Red Sanders said are “more important than that” aren’t really all that important in the long run. Fans remember when their team won “the big one” for years, and people pay obscene amounts for sports memorabilia associated with championships and records. Ask yourself this question however: Which would you rather have read to you on your deathbed, sports trivia or the Bible? Not much of a contest, is it? 

Jesus once asked a haunting question that we would all do well to pay attention to. He spoke of the importance of taking up the cross and following Him as his disciple, and then asked in Matthew 16:26, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his life?” People have been known to exchange their lives for things that ultimately don’t matter, like money, pleasure, or fame. The only successful exchange ever given for a life that I know of is when Jesus gave His life to ransom ours, and to pay for our sins. He laid it down, and took it back up again to save us from eternal death. 

Jesus didn’t come to take your joy away. He came to give “abundant life” (John 10:10) to all who believe in Him. He doesn’t want us to waste our precious time here on earth worrying about things that really aren’t “life and death” important. That’s why He urged in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well,” with “all these things” being the necessities of earthly life. The next time you are tempted to have a heart attack over something that everyone will forget in a few years, remember this verse instead: “Look to the Lord and His strength, seek His face always,” (Psalm 105:4). What’s a real matter of life and death? St. Paul got it right when he said in Phil. 1:21, “For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain.”