There was a poll conducted during the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, and the result was that 40% of Americans think they could compete in the Olympics.
Not that they could compete if they trained hard and prepared for years, but rather that they could step onto the court, the mat, or into the pool and actually hold their own against world-class athletes.
You have got to be kidding me.
Just that statement alone devalues all the work and sacrifice that the Olympic athletes have put into their training for years. It’s ridiculous, laughable, and ironically, a telling statement about many followers of Jesus.
I hear Christians say all the time how they want to be like the early church. They’ll point to the simple and organic beginnings of the church, and compare it to the often complex and celebrity-driven state of the church before making some statement about how bad it is now and how good it was then.
And yet, they miss the simple truth that we won’t have now what they had then if we don’t do now what they did then.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47 NIV, emphasis mine)
Olympic athletes are in the Olympics because they devoted themselves to what was necessary to become world-class athletes. Couch potatoes need not apply. The same is true of the church. Until our devotions change to match the devotion of the early church, we won’t have the results that we read about in Acts.
Olympic athletes were devoted to sprints, burpees, early morning and late-night workouts, strict diets, and the like. If we’re devoted to Netflix, pizza, and burping and think we can compete, then we’re part of that delusional 40%.
The early church was devoted to teaching, to meals, to prayer, to worship. And they were devoted to all of those things together. If we’re devoted to identity politics, nationalistic religion, our preferences, and individual faith, then we’ll know nothing of the favor and growth that the early church experienced. To think otherwise isn’t much different from the 40% of Americans who misjudge their athletic ability.
