Pros

update

04 May 06

Godly living

For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do - living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. 1 Peter 4:3-4

Because of Christ's death Christians cannot live any more as they did before. Because Christ's death had won for us new life in fellowship with God and a prospect of eternal life beyond the grave, we ought to face the future with a new attitude of mind. We are to spend the rest of our earthly days no longer pleasing ourselves but serving God. In some cases this will involve a sea-change in our attitude and will result in expressions of surprise from our non-Christian friends. We are challenged to live our life in a radically different fashion. We are to stop sinning and to put our mind to doing God's will.

Before he became a Christian Jason Robinson went out drinking 6 nights a week. As a Christian, he did not go into a pub for the next five years. At first his team mates said he would give up Christianity in a week. Years later, his faith is stronger than ever and his team-mates have come to respect him.

As we represent Christ in the world of sport, we will stand out and look strange to people. If we have become Christians as adults, we may have had to make big changes in our behaviour. The change may be a struggle and may be less dramatic than Jason. But then Jesus never said that it would be easy to follow him (in the world of sport or anywhere else) but he did promise to be with us.

Graham and Stuart

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