Ivie Oghakpor
Throughout our lives Christ calls us to THE kingdom life, whether it is at the age of ten or eighty- two; either way we are called. Although, if Christ is calling us to a new way of life, what is it exactly that we had to be called from?
Let’s have a throwback Thursday moment (even though it’s Sunday LOL) for awhile back when I ate anything covered in grease for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and soda pulsed through my veins. I probably had to be seven years old when my Dad realized that my diet was taking a toll on my health and he decided to put me in basketball, which gradually impacted my life in tremendous ways. Basketball impacted every aspect of my life from my physical physique to the people I hung out with; it even went as far to impact my spiritual walk. Now let us fast forward to high school where I had to have reached the peak of my basketball “career”, it is funny that I say career because if something is a person’s career they are more than likely receiving some type of income due to all their hard work and effort, although that was exactly what basketball required of me, long effortful hours for no pay. Basketball consumed my being – not in a good way – it was what I breathed, ate, and cried over. Then there were the people I happened to be around, they weren’t the most Jesus loving bunch, and most times they were the reason for some of the darkness that was present in my life at the time. As bad as it may sound, basketball was the voice Christ used to call me home. So, high school came to an end and everyone that I grew up playing basketball with had already committed to the college they were going to hoop at in the fall, except for me. I got offers, but I turned them down, at that point in time shooting a ball through a basket and the constant battle of never knowing when your best would be enough grew faint to the relationship that Christ called me to with him.
READ LUKE 18:35-42
The thing is before Christ I knew no other relationship outside of basketball—just as the blind beggar knew no other life besides the blind life. In fact before I got saved I never knew it was a relationship Christ wanted to have with us. Christ knows us all better than we could ever know ourselves, it would make sense due to the truth that we were all created through him (see John 1:3). Yet we still go back to what we thought brought us joy, when we have been called to an everlasting and true joy. I don’t know about you guys, but I would be a BLIND BEGGAR if I went back to the consuming life of being a competitive basketball player. Therefore, ask yourself, have you gone back to the life of a blind beggar? If so, what or who is it that takes you back there?
Throughout our lives Christ calls us to THE kingdom life, whether it is at the age of ten or eighty- two; either way we are called. Although, if Christ is calling us to a new way of life, what is it exactly that we had to be called from?
Let’s have a throwback Thursday moment (even though it’s Sunday LOL) for awhile back when I ate anything covered in grease for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and soda pulsed through my veins. I probably had to be seven years old when my Dad realized that my diet was taking a toll on my health and he decided to put me in basketball, which gradually impacted my life in tremendous ways. Basketball impacted every aspect of my life from my physical physique to the people I hung out with; it even went as far to impact my spiritual walk. Now let us fast forward to high school where I had to have reached the peak of my basketball “career”, it is funny that I say career because if something is a person’s career they are more than likely receiving some type of income due to all their hard work and effort, although that was exactly what basketball required of me, long effortful hours for no pay. Basketball consumed my being – not in a good way – it was what I breathed, ate, and cried over. Then there were the people I happened to be around, they weren’t the most Jesus loving bunch, and most times they were the reason for some of the darkness that was present in my life at the time. As bad as it may sound, basketball was the voice Christ used to call me home. So, high school came to an end and everyone that I grew up playing basketball with had already committed to the college they were going to hoop at in the fall, except for me. I got offers, but I turned them down, at that point in time shooting a ball through a basket and the constant battle of never knowing when your best would be enough grew faint to the relationship that Christ called me to with him.
READ LUKE 18:35-42
The thing is before Christ I knew no other relationship outside of basketball—just as the blind beggar knew no other life besides the blind life. In fact before I got saved I never knew it was a relationship Christ wanted to have with us. Christ knows us all better than we could ever know ourselves, it would make sense due to the truth that we were all created through him (see John 1:3). Yet we still go back to what we thought brought us joy, when we have been called to an everlasting and true joy. I don’t know about you guys, but I would be a BLIND BEGGAR if I went back to the consuming life of being a competitive basketball player. Therefore, ask yourself, have you gone back to the life of a blind beggar? If so, what or who is it that takes you back there?
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