the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life
Spending a weekend in Ohio is usually fun for me. I get the chance to see people I haven't seen for some time and spend time with some really great friends. This past weekend was one of those fun weekends with one exception. Everyone was talking about the Ohio State Buckeyes football team now mired in a three game losing streak.
The Buckeyes are one of the premier collegiate football programs in the nation. They are coached by one of my all time favorite coaches, Jim Tressel. Tressel was formerly the coach of Youngstown State in Ohio and had won national championships in Division II while there. In only his second year at Ohio State they won the National Championship in the Fiesta Bowl against the University of Miami.
So how does a team go from national champ to national chump in one year? How can a team go from undefeated to 3 and 3 with losses to unranked teams? How can a tream go from being in the top ten in defense against the run to where they couldn't stop your kid's JV team? I really do not know other than to say they lost a lot of players last year to the National Football League draft. Fourteen to be exact. And many of the players they had left had little or no experience. They had failed to reload effectively.
Churches go through up times and down times. They hit streaks where things are going so good and then it seems like the bottom falls out. The first thing I look at when I hear of things like that is the church's programming. Especially in smaller churches, programming becomes very self serving. In short, it fits the people who are there. What about the people who aren't? You know, the lost?
The primary purpose for the existence of the church is to reach the lost. Churches tend to lose sight of that once in a while. They turn inward to family relationships and friendship groups and suddenly others are not the primary focus. The church is the body of Christ. His main focus should be ours. "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10 If your church is slipping a little it is time to reload.
'Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life' Copyright 2010 © Tom Kelley. 'Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life' articles may be reproduced in whole under the following provisions: 1) A proper credit must be given to the author at the end of each story, along with their complete bio and a link to https://www.studylight.org/ 2) 'Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life' content may not be arranged or "mirrored" as a competitive online service.
