If you are a Christian you are a new creation; your old attitude and way of doing things is passing away and you should now be learning to walk in the new ways of a Christian. In fact, when Christ freed us from our bondage to sin He placed us on the “basketball court of life.” Every day a Christian has the freedom to determine if they are going to sit on the bench or standup and get in the game. Everyday a church has the freedom to sit on the bench or to walk on the court as a team. Whether we are on the court as an individual or as a team we battle against sin: that which generates the breach between man and God; and is itself the cause for our eternal separation from God. We are not left alone on the court; however, because God has given us His grace to bridge the gap and He empowers us with His Spirit to excel in playing the game of life. If you chose to walk out on the court of life as a Christian you must be patient, devoted, willing to work, diligent in your training and obedient.
Sin, our opponent, is the result of our ignorance when it comes to the will of God; or it can, in some cases, be our conscious rejection of God’s will. In any event, sin blocks and intercepts our handling of Christian love and service to God. We sin because we are too shiftless to learn how to play the game and to lazy to train our minds and spirits in handling the ball. It takes tremendous spirit-mind coordination if you are going to become skilled at handling the Christian basketball of love and service. Christians who sit on the bench are a lazy, rebellious and ignorant lot. Also, way too many Christians are poor players because they have no self discipline; they are poor players because they won’t obey the coach’s instructions; and they are poor players because they have a weak spirit. The poor player, because of his or her own slothfulness, is not equipped to face sin on the court of life: slothful Christians let down their team and endanger their soul.