Our Savior put us in this world, but as Christian men and women, we are not to conform to it.

Many sports enthusiasts, young and old, look up to professional athletes. Such fans dream of what it would be like to have such a coveted career, which would enable them to play the games they so love for a living. What is more, who can help but admire the talents of those gifted people? Then add to that all the glory they receive from so many adoring fans.

Yes, many of us do admire professional athletes. However, we are greatly disappointed when the news of the day is that the man we thought to be a great homerun king had a cork-filled bat or the young woman who was the gold medalist at the Olympics turns out to be a performance-enhancing drug user. What a disappointment it is to see them stripped of their awards and medals and even banned from participating in the sports they so loved!

Men, get in the game. That's what St. Paul reminds us: "I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize" (1 Corinthians 9:26,27).

And don't only get in the game; play by the rules—God's rules. Paul reminds us how: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:2).

DON'T CONFORM TO THE WORLD'S WAYS

Mind you, not many of us are professional athletes. But what about our performance in our daily lives? Are we honest in the way we seek to achieve our goals? Do we strive to get ahead by assuring ourselves that the end justifies the means, even if those means include doing something a bit shady if not downright immoral or illegal? Do we seek popularity among the people around us, even by using methods that are unscrupulous? Do we try to mimic the lifestyles of those around us and accept or even adopt their ways and ideas so that we will be accepted? Do we seek to gain the prizes of this life even if it goes against what we know to be right? It is a great temptation for us to want to imitate the world around us in order to win friends and be popular.

I remember the warning my old German grandmother often gave us. She would say in her broken English: "If zhe vorld loves you, vatch out." Of course, the thought was not original with her. James warns us in his epistle: "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God" (James 4:4).