How a passion for fun leads many to settle for mediocrity over being a champion …

Popular Fox TV and radio sports talk show host, Colin Cowherd, has a running gripe with Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle, Lane Johnson, calling him a “shortcut guy.”

Cowherd’s complaint focuses on Johnson’s criticism last year of the New England Patriots and how they consistently win, saying Patriots act like “robots” and generally knocking the high degree of discipline that is the “Patriots Way.” What really needled Cowherd was Johnson saying he’d rather have fun playing football than win a Super Bowl by having to endure the stifling level of discipline the Patriots demand of everyone in the organization in order to be persistent champions.

Cowherd argues winning multiple Super Bowls is a lot of fun, but you can’t do it without the discipline and hard work that’s expected by the Patriots. Cowherd said, “Homework doesn’t stop in high school,” going on to argue that no matter what you do in life, if you want to be a champion at it, you’ll have to work hard. Cowherd acknowledges we need to make room for some fun in life, but says Johnson is more concerned about having fun than being a champion.

I’ll leave you to decide what you think about this argument over football, but Cowherd has put the spotlight on a truth we really don’t like to acknowledge: most of us are willing to settle for a mediocre life — even a mediocre faith — rather than having to persistently apply the level of self-discipline it takes to be a “champion” in anything.

Like some football players, we just want to have fun, and we’re always looking for shortcuts. But there aren’t any shortcuts in life, even to realizing that “fullness of life” that Jesus wants us to experience …

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life,” John 10:10.

That’s one scripture a whole lot of people like! It sounds terrific! Especially when we inaccurately fantasize about Jesus just dropping this wonderful “… rich and satisfying life …” on us without any effort or work on our part.

It doesn’t work that way.

Instead of “magically” making life easy and satisfying, God enables us to be champions in life by His power, and through the application of love, but also by a persistent and dogged application of self-discipline which He has equipped us with …

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline,” 2 Timothy 1:7.

Regardless of the circumstances you encounter in life, you can be God’s champion in it, and you can experience real joy through it, if you’re willing to persist every day in the self-discipline required to be a champion. It’s the discipline of a daily cross …

“Then he said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me,'” Luke 9:23.

Or, you can just apply yourself to “having fun.”

Being a champion for Christ comes with a great deal of joy, and many occasions of fun, but never at the expense of taking up your cross each and every day — of exercising the self-discipline God has supplied you with — and doing the hard work of living by faith to the glory of God.

Many are not willing to be so self-disciplined, choosing instead to sit on the bench and watch others be champions. They’ll complain those other Christians don’t have as much fun, they’re too serious and make life too stifling with obedience and effort and discipline. The bottom line for such people is, if Jesus isn’t going to drop into their laps this “rich and satisfying life” He talked about, then don’t expect them to live a disciplined life for it.

And that is how they miss out on that rich and satisfying life Jesus came to make possible for us.

Which are you? Are you a “shortcut guy,” looking for an immediate path for having fun in life? Or are you willing to take up your cross every day, and to exert the self-discipline God has given you so that you can be a champion for Him?

Scotty