Can You Root for Lebron and Jesus?

I live and work in Dallas, Texas. Dallas has a massive pro sports market with pro teams in almost every sport there is: NFL, MLB, NBA, MLS, NHL, and even minor league teams. Sports fandom is a big thing in our area. And at the risk of causing some of you to stop reading right here, I am a lifelong, die-hard, there is no other football team, Dallas Cowboys fan. 

The cool thing about being a fan of the team in your area is that most of the people around you are fans, too. So, there’s not a lot of rivalry talk or trash-talking toward your favorite player. The same is true in our student ministry; most of the students who care are Dallas Cowboys fans. At least I’ve taught a few of them correctly, ha!

The other day, one of my students posted to his Instagram stories a picture from Jalen Hurts, quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles. If you know anything about the Eagles, they are hated and bitter rivals of the Cowboys. Stick with me here. I promise this story is going somewhere. His post surprised me because I thought he was as big a fan of the Cowboys as I am. So why would he post a picture glorifying a bitter rival quarterback? When I questioned him on it, he said something that made me pause. He said, “I’m more a sports fan than a fan of a specific team. I appreciate good players and other teams, even though I’d say I’m still a Cowboys fan.”

After I got over my initial shock of “WHAT??” I began to feel a Holy Spirit bump and wondered if this thought process is why the church seems to be less of a priority today. Does that mean Jesus is not the first and foremost priority for this younger generation?

You may be wondering, “How in the world did you go from sports fandom to church decline?” Go with me here. I’ve seen this same attitude in many of my students over recent years, something that is very typical of their generation. They don’t hold loyalties to things like older generations do. They can root for one thing while appreciating its total opposite. Whereas the Cowboys fan in me could never root for another rival player, this student could cheer on someone else he found talented and gifted. This generation can cheer on Lebron James and Steph Curry, rivals on the court, and be ok with either winning it all. Team USA in the Olympics is great, but the guy from Jamaica is fun to watch. This younger generation can almost find some of their identity in a multitude of different fandoms or players.

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 And it made me think, is that the way this younger generation sees the church and sees Jesus as well? In this new age of mental wellness and health, “spirituality” in all forms has been growing in popularity. Being a “spiritual person” is something you can frequently hear influencers say online. And so often, it’s coming from a place of not understanding who Jesus is. This is the kind of perspective our students are taking in. Jesus is just another “player” you can appreciate in the spiritual field, but it’s ok for your devotion to be divided among any ideologies that you like. It’s like a restaurant buffet line: you can pick and choose the things you want and leave the others behind. You can have a little bit of another belief system and leave behind parts of Christianity that you don’t like. You can accept the teachings of Jesus that are accepting of others but throw out the parts of correction that don’t mesh well with worldly concepts. You can toss around the idea of being a Christian but appreciate non-Christian worldviews.

This is not a bashing of younger generations—not at all. If we’re honest, we all probably have divided devotion more often than we care to admit. But this train of thought has put some perspective into place for me about why students don’t always have the fervor for church that many of our older generations do. “When the doors of the church are open, we’re there. It’s Jesus or nothing.” Well, that’s not the mindset anymore for many. “When the church is open, I can go if I have nothing better to do. Jesus is great and teaches me so much about loving others. But this person teaches about kindness and not judging, too.” It’s a shift into divided loyalties. It’s a shift into appreciating the relative goodness of this world instead of the absolute goodness of God.

Appreciating other rival players from sports teams is not a bad thing. I can get behind that. However, appreciating rivals to Jesus and His truth is unequivocally a bad path to walk down. I think the question we must ask ourselves and our students as well is, “Is Jesus your ride or die, or is He just a positive influence mixed in with the rest of the voices in this world?” Is your faith based on total devotion to God’s truth, or are you trying to also appreciate the false truths of this world? Where does your devotion lie?

Share your thoughts with others in our YM360 community:

• In this world, truth has become an opinion-based concept. How can you instill God’s absolute truth in your students so they don’t stray from it?
• We can easily see divided loyalties in the lives of the families we lead (church vs. sports, etc.). But it’s harder to admit our own areas of fault. Where is God asking you for more devotion?

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