Are we as enthusiastic about the Lord as we are about our favorite sports teams, TV shows or musicians?

Is your faith comfy, or does it challenge you? Sometimes we sit in the spiritual recliner with the remote when God wants us on two-a-days.

What’s your greatest accomplishment in life? Does God get the credit for it, or are you counting on your own strength?

Salvation isn’t like the NFL Draft; you can know where you stand (I John 5:13). If you’re unsure about being a follower, let’s talk.

Fans don’t get access to the playbook, but players do. Our playbook is the Bible, and our Coach wants us to follow it every day!

Are you a jersey-wearing fan of Jesus or a sold-out follower?

This week marks one year since we began this weekly devotional journey together. I hope that the Sunday messages and daily prompts have enriched your prayer time. Whether you read the printed version at church, access it here or on the xroads website, check it out on Facebook or receive the daily text messages, it has been a joy sharing this experience with you! We are starting a new sermon series about the difference between being a real follower of Jesus vs. just a fan, and I hope you’ll stick with us for the next several weeks as we delve into it.

Have you ever acted foolish in public? I’d like to claim that I haven’t, but there is photographic evidence of me at the Alamo Bowl wearing a plush bear hat with an interlocking “BU” face tattoo to prove otherwise. That night, I jumped up and down and screamed and cheered and gave so many high-fives that I bruised the palm of my hand. I was hoarse for two days.

My dad & me at the at Alamo Bowl 2012

Yeah, I’d say I was a bit foolish in my exuberant support of the Bears. 😉 To non-sports fans, that type of enthusiasm may seem fanatical, weird or pointless.

In the book of I Corinthians, Paul talks about another sort of so-called folly—our faith. Verse 18 says that to those who don’t believe, the message of the cross is foolishness, but to those of us who believe, “it is the power of God” (NIV). The world may think that we are the ones who are foolish for believing in Jesus, but Paul goes on to say that God uses the foolishness of the world to demonstrate his own power.

The wisdom of the world cannot compare to God’s wisdom. God called foolish, weak, lowly creatures like us to be set apart for him, so that we would not boast in our own abilities but in his power alone.

The Bears were not victorious at the Alamo Bowl because of my own football abilities, that’s for certain! I was just a fan. As we look at what it means to move from being a fan to a follower of Christ, let’s remember that we can only accomplish what he calls us to do because of his strength, not our own (Philippians 4:13).

When our yes doesn’t mean yes or our no doesn’t mean no, we give the enemy wiggle room in our lives. Don’t give in; give control to God.

Speaking of perseverance, check out the story of Job in the Old Testament. Be encouraged by God’s unending love for you!

Do you persevere in tough times, or do you throw in the towel? What is God asking you to be patient about today? Talk to him about it.