I have recently started watching football. 

American football, that is! 

For anyone who has been reading my posts for very long, you already know that I am not particularly a sports fan, and my assessment of American football has always been that a bunch of men run into each other and knock each other down. And if you peel through the fallen bodies, you should find a ball…I am also very thankful that the world doesn’t follow football time, where one 15 minute quarter can last an hour… 

With this type of an attitude, why then, the sudden interest in football?

My youngest son is to blame. He is an ardent fan of the Green Bay Packers, an American football team in Wisconsin, USA. When the Packers are playing, he is glued to the screen, and there is no communicating with him. 

Or at least, that is what I thought! I have recently learned that I can communicate with him, even during a Packers’ game, by showing some interest in his team! 

The other day he was pretty bummed out because the Packers were playing right in the middle of a small group that he facilitates. He would be unable to watch the game. I suddenly had it on my heart to watch it for him! I carefully took notes that my wife later sent to him.

My son appears to appreciate my sudden interest in his sport, for he has just proposed that we watch the next Packers game together. This could be a bit difficult, seeing as he is in Western Canada, and I am in Eastern Canada… but with the technological advances of today, why not? 

So why am I suddenly willing to watch American football? Or any sport for that matter?

It’s because I realized something very, very important: Sometimes we have to make sacrifices in order to connect with people. 

Please understand that I’m not condoning compromise to our God-ordained beliefs and values; but let’s be real! Watching American football with my son doesn’t require even the simplest compromise. It is making him so happy. Just a tiny little sacrifice on my part, and I can connect with my son, even during a Packers game!

Wait. What if we were all willing to make some minor sacrifices in order to spread God’s Word? Notice, once again, I didn’t say compromises. But what if the person God has placed on your hearts to witness to is, for example, heavily into bird watching? And what if you have absolutely no interest in bird watching whatsoever? How can you connect? Sure, you can try to find some other common ground, but what if there isn’t any? Hey! Maybe you need to make the sacrifice to go bird watching! The question is: How far are we willing to go to connect with the people God has placed on our hearts to witness to? 

God calls us to sacrifice. He doesn’t say it will be easy, but He does promise that sacrifice is part of our true and proper worship. Check out Romans 12:1: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” (NIV)

We also know that we are rewarded for our sacrifices. At one point, Peter said to Jesus, “We have left everything to follow you!” (Mark 10:28 NIV)

Jesus’ response? “Truly I tell you…no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.” (Mark 10:29,30 NIV)

Wait! This doesn’t just say that we will be rewarded in Heaven! It indicates that we will also be rewarded on Earth! 

I can understand this. Although I tell myself watching football with and for my son is a sacrifice on my part, I have to admit I’m starting to like it, even just a little! And I am so blessed by the time I’m spending with my son. 

What will you sacrifice in order to connect with someone God has placed on your heart to witness to? Whatever it is, take the ball and run with it (no pun intended)! You are guaranteed to be blessed, not only in Heaven, but on this earth as well!

In His love,
Rob Chaffart
Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries