This story appears in FCA Magazine’s September/October 2016 issue. Subscribe today!
When the winds of society blow, we can either be a flag or a flagpole. The wind dictates which way the flag moves, but the flagpole isn’t moved by the wind. Unfortunately, today, the winds of culture often blow in directions that God’s Word cannot go! You see, God’s Word is the flagpole, standing firm for all eternity, the never-changing truth of Jesus Christ.
As God’s people, are we more like the flag or the flagpole? Do we move and shift to accommodate culture, or do we stand firm in the Lord, being countercultural? God’s people have always been called to be countercultural, even in ancient days. Consider the two Hebrew midwives in Exodus 1. When orders came to kill every Hebrew baby boy but keep the girls alive, they clung to their faith in God and His direction by disobeying those orders and trusting that their future was secure in Him.
“But because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king’s orders. They allowed the boys to live, too.” – Exodus 1:17
Obedient Christ-followers reveal the beauty and greatness of God so the world may know Him and His truth. Exodus 1:20 tells us that God dealt well with the midwives and advanced His Kingdom through their courageous obedience.
Years later, a Hebrew man named Daniel was told by the Babylonian Empire that under no circumstance was there to be public prayer for 30 days. You could only pray to King Darius. If anyone was caught praying to anyone or anything else, they’d be thrown into a den of lions.
I wonder how we as Christ-followers would react to such a decree today. Would we shrink back, thinking, “Let’s be sensible, we can still pray privately”? Or would we follow Daniel’s risky, countercultural ways?
“But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to God.” – Daniel 6:10
That is staggering!
Daniel, plain and simple, was being a flagpole. He stood firm in his faith, refusing to waiver or negotiate the non-negotiable. All out of his tender love for God. And where did it land him? Right in the lion’s den, where he was miraculously saved by God, radically displaying the saving powers of the great I Am.
In Acts 4 and 5, we see Peter and John repeatedly ruffling feathers by ignoring the demands to stop speaking and teaching in the name of Jesus. But they refused!
So, how about we stop playing God and just be lovingly intimate and obedient to Him, following His call over that of the world and trusting Him with the results? How about being countercultural with your expression of Jesus?
As a coach, are you articulating your faith to your fellow coaches and athletes placed in your care? Or are you being silent, hoping they’ll just absorb some of your faith by being around you? You were meant for so much more than that! Be bold! Be countercultural in the way you incorporate your relationship with Christ into the way you coach, teach and lead! With the eternal destiny of those around you at stake, why would you do it any other way?
As an athlete, how are you incorporating your faith into how you practice and compete? Are you just waving in the winds with your classmates and teammates around you? Or are you standing out in a way that others ask what is different about you? Are you using your position in the game to influence others to follow Christ?
Trust me, I’ve been in your shoes. I’ve had to decide—many times—to be countercultural in the sports world. And I have seen amazing things take place when coaches and athletes take a stand for Christ in a public setting.
For almost a quarter-century, I was part of a football staff at a public university. At every football camp, we reserved a night to have an optional FCA session where we presented the gospel. Thousands and thousands of high school boys were able to hear and respond to Jesus through that FCA ministry.
We also had coaches’ Bible studies twice a week, where we read and studied the entire Bible in a year. I’ve been a part of three national championship football teams, but those don’t even come close to seeing unsaved boys receive Jesus as Savior and saved coaches weep, repent and grow in their faith.
Being countercultural is never easy. In fact, it’s probably the hardest thing we’ll ever do, but the eternal rewards are more valuable than any treasure we could ever attain on this earth.
Jesus once said, “For whoever wants to save [or protect] his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life [sacrifices the applause of men] because of Me and the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:35, HCSB)
No matter the costs, no matter the results, give me the countercultural!
-FCA-