I have been told that sports is a religion. Is this true?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines religion as: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices, the service and worship of God or the supernatural, commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance.
With that thought, we can see that whatever it is that has great prominence in our lives could be considered a religion. We are warned in Jeremiah 25:6, “And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.” The very first commandment given to the nation of Israel is found in Exodus 20:3, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Plainly, we see the Lord desires to have first place in our lives. We read in Isaiah 42:8 where the Lord says, “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”
The Lord Jesus instructs us in Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” First and foremost in our lives, we should love the Lord, seek to please Him, and give Him our lives to lead.
If we begin to miss the church gatherings because of ball games we want to watch, we are in danger of putting sports before the Lord. We read in Hebrews 10:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
If we find ourselves talking about sports more than we talk about the Lord, we are in danger of putting sports before the Lord. The Apostle Paul was so fixated on the Lord that he pronounced, “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
If we realize we know more about sports stats than we know our Bibles, we are in danger of putting sports before the Lord. The Lord instructs us in John 5:39, “Search the scriptures…they are they which testify of me.”
So…sports can become a religion to us. In fact, anything we put before the Lord, anything we value above the Lord becomes a religion to us. In closing, let’s look at what the Bible commends to us as a valuable and worthwhile religion. “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27). To labor for the Lord with our hearts focused on Him is that which He approves of and is glorified in. (CC) (639.6)