Are We Idolizing Youth Sports?

One of the main thematic threads that flows through Scripture from start to finish is the issue of idolatry. Each of us faces the life-long battle to remove God from His rightful place, replacing him with people and things that we then worship as most important in our lives. It is through our behaviors that we can see how the good things God has given us become the ultimate things which we worship. I was recently challenged to think about our current cultural idol of youth sports when I watched a video of third and fourth graders playing youth football in Pittsburgh. The video featured an on-field brawl among several adults and a physical altercation between two coaches. It not only struck me that these men would go to these lengths over a kids’ game, but that the kids were watching it all unfold and learning from their example. What does your sideline and bleacher behavior say to your kids about what’s most important in your life? As the Apostle Paul commands us, “flee from idolatry.”