It is a good thing to have things in common with your kids. When I was a kid, I used to collect baseball cards. I would save up my money and ride my bike down to the corner store and buy as many packs as possible. I will never forget the anticipation of paying for the cards and rushing outside and opening those packs, grabbing the concrete piece of bubble gum that was inside each pack and shoving it in my mouth to begin the cavity process. 4 out of 5 kids recommended Donruss bubble gum, but I was a Topps man! I would then smell the cards…yes, I was a weird kid. I loved the smell of the cards with the scent of the bubble gum. I remember looking through the cards in search of my heroes. It would only be a few days and I would have them ordered, alphabetized and put in my shoebox for proper storage. I would then memorize the stats on the back of each card and do the math to check to make sure that Topps didn’t make any mistakes figuring out each player’s stats. I was a stat junkie!
My son, Cole, has started collecting cards. In fact, I don’t remember myself being this excited about cards. However, he is searching Ebay and looking up values and if we ever get separated at the store, I can always go to the baseball card section to find him. He has them all separated by team and in a binder with protective pages. He takes his cards and trades them with our neighbor’s kids and rushes home to ask me if I have ever heard of such and such a player.
Cole loves the history of the older cards and the players that are depicted on them. He has a respect for the game and realizes that there are those who played baseball long before he was even born. He asks why Jackie Robinson’s number is retired at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, TX, because he knows he never played for the Rangers. I love it! His passion for those cards and collecting them take me back to a place when I loved being a kid. The only thing I notice about today’s cards are that they don’t smell like bubblegum…what a tragedy!
I was reading in Romans and cam across a series of Scripture that reminded me of trading cards. The passage is found in Romans 1:21-22 & 25. This is what Paul wrote to the Romans…
21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.22Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
When Paul was addressing the Romans, he spoke to them like the people had knowledge of God. However, just knowing about God doesn’t imply worship or facilitate the implementation of worship. People have a will, that means they have a choice to worship God or not. They would not even return thanks to God, much less worship Him. They began to concoct their own interpretations of who God is and what He was like. This takes place today. Some may refer to God as a woman or say that God is in everything or God is who you want Him to be. Some may even believe that all gods, Allah, Buddha, Hare Krishna, the various Hindu gods are all the same. This is called polytheism. As a result of these beliefs, people’s minds can become confused and darkened to the light of the Truth. In their wisdom that they feel the gain from this wide spectrum of religions/gods, they instead become fools. A fool is one who says in his heart that there is no god.
As a result of these actions, people traded the truth about God for a lie. The Truth was in the form of Jesus Christ and the lie believed is the lie that there are many ways to heaven so worship whatever you think to be god. Instead of worshipping the Creator, they worshipped creation.
The first commandment that God wrote on the tablets for Moses on Mt. Sinai was,
“Thou shall have no other gods before me.”
This is the most important commandment. You must always put God first. Many times you will be confronted with ‘possibilities’ that God is found in all and in everything. However, don’t buy in to the lie that there are many ways to heaven. There is one way, that is, through Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9-10). Make sure that idolatry doesn’t creep in and focus is diverted to the attention of what man has created over the Creator himself. Remember, confusion doesn’t come from God. Worship God for who He is…first and foremost…the Creator.
What is that “thing” you are trading for your reverence to God?
How can one find comfort in the realization that there is ONE way to heaven, that is, through Jesus Christ?
What are the things, idols, that you are putting in front of God that competes for His rightful place in your life?
oneguyseyes 