One final post about God and Sports. At the Redskins game last week, I told you about the lesson CJ gave my brothers-in-law and I about handling the remote control. This is an important topic, becuase so many commercials are simply unacceptable in their content, exalting greed or immoratilty to promote a product. Read Philippians 4:8 before you watch your next batch of commercials and ask yourself: how many of these commercials are described by this verse? Not many.

The first step is to have a go-to channel. Another major network channel isn’t a great idea, since they usually play commercials at the same and those likely won’t be any better. My personal favorite is the Military Channel. The NASA Channel and C-Span are also highly recommended.

So once you have your channel, you have to be ready. According to CJ, this requires three things:

• Concentration. If you’re busy trying to get the last of the queso out of the jar, you won’t be able to do this job effectively. So watch closely.
• Anticipation. You gotta know when to go. If you wait until the commercials actually start, you might be too late.
• Coordination. Push the right button! Helps to keep your finger there.

Some might be wondering: Am I saying that it is always sinful for Christians to watch commercials? Of course not. But I am making a plea for wisdom and discernment, knowing that we are easily influenced by what we see, and the advertising industry isn’t really interested in influencing us toward godliness.

Dads, I want to encourage you in particular to lead in this, and set a godly standard for your family. To do so is to take one step in obeying Proverbs 4:23:

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

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