Everybody Is Doing It

It's an exciting time of year --- major league players have reported to spring training camp. It's a time when all 30 major league teams still have hopes of a World Series Championship. Talk of major trades and off-season signings have been over-shadowed by the steroids/HGH controversy involving many high profile major-league ballplayers.
So how should we as Christians view this subject? Isn't it something everyone is doing? If you want to succeed in high-level competition isn't this acceptable? I know it's illegal, but everyone is doing it, so I NEED to do it to stay competitive, right?

Jim Armstrong, sports columnist for the Denver Post writes --- "Steroids and HGH have turned up the volume and amped up the wattage in baseball. They've made the game bigger and bolder. They've made it more intrinsically interesting, more TV-friendly, more mass appealing.
It's more than that, though. There's another reason so many fans rationalize the use of performance-enhancing drugs. It's because they cheat, too. They cheat so much, it has become a culture in America.

Why wouldn't a ballplayer cheat? It's the new national pastime. No? Then when is the last ime you actually drove 55 mph when the sign told you to? Americans cheat so much, they've come up with catch phrases to avoid using the word.

We don't cheat on our taxes. We exaggerate on them.
We don't cheat on our expense reports. We fudge on them.
Contractors don't cheat home buyers. They cut corners.

Seems like everywhere you look these days, somebody is cheating or being cheated. Why should the ballpark be any different?"

Some people would probably agree --- did they really cheat? It's what everybody is doing.

*But what does God's Word say about who we should listen to? Psalms 1:1-2 "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked ... but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."

*Does God really care? Ecclesiastes 12:14 "For God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden thing whether it is good or evil."

*How then should we live? Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Or in one Bible translation is says, "Do not let the world squeeze you into it's mold."

*Is it really that important? I John 3:16 "No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him."

Thank You LORD for giving us a "playbook" to live by!
Sondra Herold
Omaha FCA Field Rep