By: Rex Stump
Wauseon, Ohio
This isn’t rocket science, advanced chemistry class, or a philosophical discussion…it is elementary. What is it, you ask? It’s the ability to recognize a person’s allegiance to a team.
I can discern what team you cheer for by your social media posts, or the conversation about your favorite player, coach, or how your team won or lost.
Your cheers, your comments, and the fact that you can sing or hum the fight song also helps. But you really make it evident by the colors you wear, the jersey you sport, and the time you devote to watching or attending a game. Allegiance to a team is so simple a child can figure it out!
As a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, I have confessed my sins to our Holy God and I have placed my faith in God’s only Son, Jesus Christ.
God loves me and has shown His amazing grace and mercy to me. Jesus Christ is my Savior and Lord. God’s Holy Spirit lives within me. That is my public profession.
But without opening my mouth, would anyone know this? Does everyone know that I am on God’s team? Do I cheer for God and godly things? Do I praise His name in public…or do I use His name flippantly?
Do I gather with my teammates to worship and celebrate or do I neglect the opportunity to be with my teammates? Do I give, serve, and sacrifice so that our team can advance? Are my actions and words positive, encouraging, and honoring to my teammates and God? How will people know what team I’m on?
Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
How will people know you are on God’s team? By our love. All people will know that we are disciples, followers, of Jesus Christ by our love. Love is expressed through our words, actions, worship, prayers, serving, and giving. Love is action.
In the 1960s Peter Scholtes wrote the hymn “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love” while he was a parish priest on the South Side of Chicago.
At the time, he was leading a youth choir and was looking for an appropriate song for a series of ecumenical, interracial events.
He couldn’t find a good song expressing the need and power of God’s people being one, so he wrote one.
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we’ll guard each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love
Today is a good day to set aside all selfish ambitions and opinions, your political position, and your worries and fears.
Today is a good day to stand side by side with your Christian brothers and sisters, our teammates, and show the world BY YOUR LOVE what team you are on.
“Stay strong, stay focused…stay faithful!”
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Rex Stump is the Area Director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and serves as a Pastor at True North Church in Wauseon, Ohio.