Thursday, September 17, 2015
This item in today’s sports news on the internet caught my eye: “Adidas President Says James Harden Has To Stop Wearing Air Jordans.” Just in case some of you may not know, Harden is the star player with the NBA’s Houston Rockets who just signed a thirteen year, 200 million dollar contract with the Adidas Corporation. His contract becomes officialOctober 1 and I presume that makes him an official spokesman/representative/ad-man/poster boy for the company. And since he was recently spotted wearing the rival company Nike’s Air Jordan shoes in public, the president of Adidas also went public to announce his directive. I’m sure this happens daily but just two days ago, I spotted a Wal Mart employee buying his groceries at HEB. How do I know he works for Wal Mart? He was wearing his blue WalMart shirt with his name tag to boot. While Wal Mart may not have a policy banning their employees from shopping at their rival stores, I’m still pretty sure they are not too crazy about the idea.
This situation involves a person doing something he should not, being in a place where he doesn’t belong, or associating with the wrong crowd. Addressing this issue regarding God’s children, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6:14: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness.” This may sound a bit harsh to some of you but it is basically a reminder that being in places where we don’t belong or hanging around with the wrong crowd, can be harmful to us and to the cause of the gospel. Even common sense will dictate that these actions are wrong. Would you see a dove hanging around with buzzards or a mule running in the Kentucky Derby?
Adidas will surely nullify James Harden’s contract with them if he continues wearing a rival company’s apparel, so he is in a position to miss out on 200 million dollars if he does. For much less than that, most people would be willing to tattoo or permanently paint the Adidas logo all over their body. Thank God that He is merciful and keeps His promises. He will never abandon or disown His children, even when they, willingly or unknowingly, support His main rival. If that were not the case, we would be in danger of losing out on something much more valuable than 200 million dollars, namely our eternal salvation. Even so, do we love the Lord so much that we will be more careful from this day forward not to do anything that will dishonor or mar His great name? I pray that we will.
Memory verse for the week: (1 Corinthians 15:58 KJV) “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
