Rising Stars, Falling Faith

Tonight was one of the events of NBA All-Star weekend-- the Rising Stars game. Over the last few years, young guns from here in the states take on the best young players from all around the world. Team USA vs. Team World. As the game has progressed over the years, it has come to the point where it's not even close anymore. The world team is dominating the game! Why is that?

I truly believe that it is because youth basketball here in the United States is failing to teach young players the fundamentals. We live in a day where six and seven-year-olds are attempting euro steps and flop all over the court. When I was that age, we weren't even allowed to shoot 3-pointers yet! We were still learning the very basics of the game of basketball. If you look at Europe's basketball teams and how they train their players, they start with the basics. They go from the ground up. Defense, discipline, effort, toughness, passing-- it's how the game was designed. I see this development in the basketball world, and I can't help but think of how much this applies to the church.

You see for centuries the church has been the light in the world. We have been the leaders that the world looks to in crisis, we have been ambassadors for Christ. Yet now where are we?

As a church, our foundations are not commonplace anymore. We live in a day and age when our kids who have grown up in Christian homes question their beliefs about God and creation from what they are taught in the public schools. Our families are crumbling from the top down, with divorce, homosexuality, and abuse becoming more rampant-- things that were unspeakable in years gone by.

How have we come this far? Can we get back to where we once were as a church? We can. But it will take time. It will take effort. It means tearing down the foundation that the world has set for us and building our foundation on the Word of God.

Psalm 11 says, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" The truth is, we can do nothing. We have no hope if the very foundations of our faith are gone. God must be our focus, His Word our foundation if we are to make a difference and rise as shining stars in this world.
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