Just in case you don’t know, it’s Super Bowl weekend. My family lives in Kansas City and since our KC Chiefs are playing the excitement level in our city is high! You can almost feel the energy, everyone is wearing Chiefs or KC gear, schools are having spirit weeks, the city has gone red with lights and displays, with lots of fun photo ops. Everyone everywhere is talking about this team, and this game. Heck, plans are already being made for a victory parade next week, if our team comes home with the win. There is no doubt there is a lot to be excited about! Kansas City loves its sports teams and this team is nothing if not exciting. Kansas City doesn’t hold a monopoly on this kind of behavior, because I would bet the same thing is happening in Philly this week.

This past week, witnessing all the excitement and festivities got me thinking about a question. What if we Christians got as excited about sharing Jesus as we do when our teams make it to the playoffs or big game? Don’t misunderstand me here, I’m not saying we shouldn’t be excited or celebrate. This is a big deal and an excellent way to build community and meet people. Since everyone is talking about it, you can pretty much start a conversation with anyone you meet. Which makes talking to people you don’t know well kind of easy. But what if we used these conversations as an opening to share the love of Jesus? Not in a weird awkward way, but simply as a way of deepening our relationships and showing them who Jesus is to us. 

Playing and/or coaching a sport at this level no doubt takes a ton of practice, talent, hard work, sacrifice and training to even make the team, let alone make it to the biggest game of the year! The players and coaches on both of these teams are the elite, the best of the best. But you know what? At the end of the day these players are just people, like you and me. And every single one of them needs Jesus in their lives. None of them can play their way into a relationship with God or get into heaven by having the most wins.  Of course there are those Christian athletes that use the stage they have been given to share their faith and that is absolutely amazing! However, for most of us, we will never have that type of stage in which to share our faith. That means we’ve got to use those smaller ones that present themselves to us. The thing is these smaller stages come around a whole lot more often. 

Here is the deal though -Jesus is WAY WAY WAY cooler than any team or any game! Jesus, the One True God came to this earth. He did so willingly and because there was no other way for us to be reconciled with our heavenly Father. Jesus came to be the “perfect sacrifice” that would be needed in order to satisfy our perfect and holy God. Jesus bled and died for you and me! He made a way for us to be reconciled to our God and Father, He was and is the way! Think about it, Jesus is a way bigger deal than any game or any stage. Yet for some reason we walk into church on Sunday or for mid week services, many times without even a smile on our face. Those of us who work in churches often go to work without even thinking about how to share Jesus, but about our to-do list or the meetings we are scheduled to attend that day. Why do you think that is? Why do we not plan parties, parades and spirit weeks at our churches for Jesus? Yes, I understand that big games happen once a year, but what if just once and a while we got as excited about Jesus as we do our teams? 

While on earth, Jesus talked to all kinds of people in all kinds of places. Biblical history tells us that God  hardly ever uses well known or famous people to share His story or be His instruments of change. Instead, He uses the unknown, people like you and me. So what if we began to get and be excited about Jesus? What if we shared our love for Jesus as much as we share our love for our teams? What if we had parties, just to get to know one another better and introduce our friends and neighbors to the One man who can truly change their lives? Let’s be honest, on Sunday there will be a winning team and a losing team. One city and team will be joyful, and continue to plan parades and celebrations. While the other team and city will feel the sting of defeat and on Monday return to normal life. But Jesus, He will remain exactly who He is – the One and only Holy God. What if we celebrated that Truth with the same joy and excitement all throughout the year?

Go God and go Chiefs!