Conditioned in God’s Gym
September 4, 2006
Bible Reading: ”We should be decent and true in everything we do, so that everyone can approve of our behavior.” ~Romans 13:13
Bonus Reading: Romans 14:20-21
In 1996, just prior to his Heisman Trophy-winning senior season at Florida, quarterback Danny Wuerffel declined an invitation to be named a member of Playboy magazine’s all-America College preseason football team and their National Scholar Athlete of the Year. His decision cost him an all-expense-paid trip to a posh Phoenix resort for a photo-shoot with the other 23 college players selected.
“It didn’t take any thought at all,” explained Wuerffel at the time. “That’s not the type of person I’d want to portray myself as.”
Wuerffel speaks frequently at churches and schools, and believes appearing in such a magazine would “confuse” those who look to him as a role model.
In college, Wuerffel led Florida to three straight SEC championships, passing for more than 10,000 yards and 114 touchdowns - second all-time - and compiling a 163.6 passing efficiency rating, an NCAA career mark. Then it was on to the NFL, where he continues to model character. “My commitment,” he says, “is to represent God in all I do.”
Steve Riach in Heart of a Champion
Adapted from Heart of a Champion (Broadman & Holman, 2001)
What are our reflexes like? Are they Godly and right by His standards - or do we still have the reflexes of our old nature. The easy test is to listen to ourselves when we are frustrated or under pressure. What comes out of our mouths? Blessings or thanksgivings to God our Father - or curses and ill speaking? Scripture tells us from the “abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” That is a good measure of our transformation by the Holy Ghost - or our insistence on doing things our own way.
The Good News in all this: if we want to change to God’s paradigm for our lives, we can do it - if we give Him primacy in all that we are and do. He’s promised us a new heart and new behaviors, if we simply make Him our Lord. Once we do, we, too, can have reflexes conditioned in God’s spiritual gym.
By Grace,
Chip+
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