Sports Talk Radio and Jesus

In December of 2015 I was blessed to start working some part time hours as a courier. It’s an easy job, and I get to spend a lot of time driving, which I actually quite enjoy. However, over the last month or so I’ve noticed a not-so-nice change in my personality begin to evolve.

You see, during the long periods of time on the road, I’m either listening to Bible-based lectures or local sports talk radio. The lectures are incredibly edifying to my soul. Sports talk radio is sometimes very entertaining, part of the time educational, every now and then wildly inappropriate, and most of the time filled with grown men throwing tantrums about their gods failing to save them.

I’ve been an avid sports talk radio listener since 2004, but I’ve never listened this much each week. And the insidious trend I’ve found developing inside me is that I’m becoming just like those grown toddlers. And the more I act like a grown toddler, the less I reflect Jesus to those I interact with.

Clement of Alexandria writes about image bearing and three things we need to work on to more purely reflect God’s image:

To really know God is to be modeled after His image and likeness. … Such a person imitates God by blessing others. For God’s gifts are for the common good. … There are three parts of our body that we need to adjust in order to grow spiritually: the mouth (speech), the heart (the power to will), and the hands (action). – Clement of Alexandria 190CE, from his Miscellanies.

Our speech, our heart, and our actions. For me, I’ve noticed that what I’ve been listening to has been affecting the way I think. And the way I’ve been thinking has been affecting my speech my heart and my actions.

The solution seems pretty simple

Starve the flesh and feed the Spirit. Translation… take some time off from sports talk radio and spend more time on the road conversing with God, listening to godly things and praising Him. Maybe it will be a long break, or maybe it will only be a couple of days. I’m not sure.

Those are some things I’d love for you to pray for me about. And I’ll let you know how it goes.