Get the Ball

By Pastor Kevin Van Wyk

All three of my kids are playing on basketball teams. The moments I love the most are when I see players diving, scrambling, and wrestling over a loose ball. For those without knee pads, floor burns are a painful badge of honor. I love the hustle, the dedication, and the passion! It’s inspiring to see great effort on the court.

So what ball are you chasing? What consumes your time, money and energy? This might be something completely out of hand and destroying your soul, family, and finances. Something like an addiction to gambling, porn, alcohol, or drugs might come to mind. You might be chasing down something that has the potential for great good like academics, sports, music, or carpentry. 

Paul tells us “Whatever you are doing, work at it with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not for people…” (Col. 3:23 NET) We are told to work wholeheartedly, with passion and drive. If you know what ball you are chasing, go after it in a way that glorifies God. Your intense work ethic honors God and reveals Jesus to others whether you are on the court, in the shop, on the stage, or in the home. We should be people who go enthusiastically after the ball!

Whether you are chasing hard after some ball or uncertain what ball you are to go after, I have a challenge for you.

It’s time to chase a new ball: God! Check out what the Bible says about Jehoshaphat: “His heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord; furthermore, he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah.” (2 Chronicles 17:6) Notice, he got rid of the worldly balls that were leading he and others away from God. Before you begin a full pursuit of God, you should consider pushing the pause button on somethings that are consuming hours of your day. 

However, I want us to focus on devoting ourselves to a new ball… the ways of the Lord. Practically speaking the New Testament gives lots of instructions on how to do this chase after God. Consider two verses…

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:42

"When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching…” Acts 18:5-6  

Let me make these things memorable with the current theme

We must devote ourselves to the BALL.
Bibling - apostles’ teaching (1 Tim. 4:13)
Asking - prayer (Col. 4:2)
Loving - fellowship (Rom. 12:10)
Leading lost to Jesus - preach (Romans 15:20) 

​How are you doing on those four things? Will you join me in wholeheartedly pursuing the BALL?