What I Learned From Watching Football

Rae Mellichamp
Emeritus Professor, University of Alabama
Faculty Commons National Representative

I was sitting in my lounge chair watching Monday Night Football when, in a moment of distraction, I started thinking about my devotional life.

I started to rationalize as I had done often in the past: I’m really too busy with the activities of life to have regular devotional times. Everyone I know is slammed— overwhelmed with things to do.

Already Maxed Out

There is never enough time to do all the things that clamor for our attention. How can I put Him first in my life if I am already maxed out on the time I have available?

Then it occurred to me what I was doing. I had time each Monday night to watch football. I watched a college game or two on Saturdays, a professional game on Sunday afternoon, and an occasional game on Thursday night. Altogether a minimum of 15 to 20 hours of football a week.

And simultaneously I was claiming that I was too busy to spend a few minutes each day with the Creator of the universe in His word and in conversation with Him.

On reflection, I had to conclude that I find time to do the things that are really important to me. As a friend of mine puts it, “We do what we want to do.”

I understood the flip side of the proposition: if I habitually neglect something in my life, it isn’t that important. No matter how much I protest, if I look at my calendar, I can pretty much tell what is important to me.

20 Times More Important To Me

This is pretty powerful logic and it stung to think that way. What was I communicating to the Lord when I spent hours each week glued to the television watching ball games and consistently neglecting my relationship with Him? “Lord, I’m really sorry, but football is 20 times more important to me than You are!”

I am convinced that the single most difficult issue that Christians living in the 21st century grapple with is having a consistent devotional life. For many years, I have questioned people about their devotional lives, and 90 percent of them are either struggling with this issue or have given up on it altogether.

So what does one do when faced with this state of affairs? I determined that if I am really serious about my relationship with God, spending time with Him must be THE most important activity of my day. It should preempt everything else—eating, sleeping, working, everything.

So I have adopted this as the guiding principle for allocating my time—I intend to spend time each day, every day for the rest of my life seeking God through His word and in prayer as THE priority of my life.

[ Excerpted from: Go Fast, Turn Left ]