OK, this is — at best — tacky, and some might find it sacreligious. But it raises a good point.

When my wife and I taught (and otherwise worked with) youth at our last church, we passed out a “get to know me” questionnaire at the beginning of the year. One of the questions was about what extra-curricular activities (if any) that each person participated in. One of the students asked why we asked that question. We explained that there were 2 reasons:

1. We wanted to get a handle on what they liked.
2. If they had a game, performance, or other exhibition of the activity, we wanted to attend, if possible.

(We got the latter idea from my wife’s actions. She’s a high school teacher, and tries to see kids excel at — for instance — basketball who don’t excel at math.)

The students had absolutely no idea why we would want to attend a middle-school play, and said as much. We explained to them that God was interested in their whole lives, not just the 2 hours they spent at church each week, and — to the extent that we could — we wanted to follow His example. It totally blew away many of the students that God would give a rip about soccer.

In one sense, this seemed over-obvious to me. But I realize that I don’t always live it, either. Sure, I may pay lip-service to 24/7 Christianity, but do I act on it?

And, an even more general point — I believe that we all need to be reminded of even the most basic things from time to time. Hence this post.