In the Bible, we can read stories about God appearing before certain men through burning bushes (Exodus 3 ), angels (Gen. 32), clouds & fire (Exodus 13), handwriting on a wall (Daniel 5) and visions (Revelation 1). In those stories where God showed up, there followed some instructions and commands.
Imagine for a moment that God appeared to you! For instance, you’re sitting at your desk and all of a sudden, without even touching the keyboard on your laptop, a message begins to type on your screen. (Yeah, sounds crazy and unrealistic, but remember, I said, “imagine!”) The message tells you something that is going to happen to you in the next few days. You realize that God, not some random computer nerd somewhere, has hacked into your email account! In this message, God tells you to do something. It’s a hard task and it’s got a time limit on it. Let’s say that God asks you to go and talk to a friend about something and you know, without a doubt, you’re supposed to do this because it’s a message your friend needs to hear. As He finishes typing, God then precedes to reveal that the friend is not going to listen to you. In fact, he/she is going to get angry. Think about it for a moment; God tells you to do something, and then says, “By the way, (your name), you’re going to get a hostile response. It’s not going to work, but I want you to go anyway.”
This actually happened to a man by the name of Isaiah, a prophet in the Bible. Look at this verse from Isaiah 6:8-10 (NASB), “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand.’ “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed.” “
Sometimes God asks us to do something even when He knows it’s not going to give us what we would consider to be a favorable result. Like, for instance, when you try to share with someone a biblical truth about sin, let’s say for example, why God judges—unfavorably & wrathfully---against abortion. Most of the time, you will get a look of disgust, a roll of the eyes, or the person may just get up and walk away. This leaves us with two ways we, as Christ-followers, can choose to respond. One response might be to sarcastically say to yourself, “Oh wow, that was a pleasant and effective experience. I hope God doesn’t ask me to get in that situation again. I sure looked like a narrow-minded fool!” Or, another response could be to pray, “You know, Lord, that was not easy, and I really care about this person. Can you help me to love him/her right where they are and just continue to share truth in love—the way your Son Christ did?”
The people Isaiah was talking to reacted with an unfavorable response. Their sin was disobedience towards their God. Scripture indicates that it was for that reason that they didn’t listen to the prophet God sent to them.
When the Holy Spirit reveals truth to you through God’s Word, there is only one response we should have: Study it & understand the context clearly; live it out passionately; and SHARE it! I want to challenge anyone who reads this today to memorize these verses: “For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will accumulate teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, keep a clear head about everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:3-5, HCSB)
My prayer is that our student-athletes would love God’s Word--the Bible-- and passionately share it with their teammates and all whom they influence! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.