In the second part of the talk Saturday night, we considered: What does God think about what is happening in the family room? Meaning, what should we be looking out for in our own hearts as we watch professional or collegiate sports?

I told the story of quickly becoming angry during the game against Tampa at what I thought was an unjust personal foul penalty and ejection of Sean Taylor, only to be humbled when I learned that Taylor had spit in the Tampa Bay running back’s face. I was wrong, and I had to ask for God’s forgiveness for my arrogance.

We read Romans 12:3, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”

From this verse we learn that humility is required of each of us. There is such a culture of criticism towards the referees, the coaches, and the players. It is so easy to quickly and confidently declare a referee blind, a coach idiotic, a player an idiot. But that’s thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought. Our TVs don’t give us the vantage point that the referees have, we don’t share the expertise of a professional coach, and we certainly don’t compare with the athletic prowess of a professional player. So let’s think of ourselves with humble, sober judgment and refrain from criticizing referees, coaches, and players.

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