Blueridge Believer
Puritan Board Professor
http://www.ipcsav.org/terry-johnson/the-disciplines-of-moderation/
The Disciplines of Moderation
by Terry Johnson Dec 01, 2008
When I was growing up in Los Angeles in the 1960's and 70's, there was one college football game broadcast on television each week-"the game of the week." It might be a Big Ten game, a Notre Dame game, or an SEC game, but there was just one. That was it. On Sunday, two NFL games were broadcast, an east coast game in the morning and a west coast game in the afternoon. Almost all local games were blocked-out unless sold out, a criterion almost beyond reach in LA's massive Memorial Coliseum.
In the 1980's the NFL added Monday Night Football. Then Sunday Night Football. In the 1990's and 2000's, the NCAA and the cable channels added multiple Saturday games, extending from noon until after 2:00a.m. Saturday morning. "Game Day" starts at 10:30a.m. on ESPN. A Thursday night game was added just a few years ago. One could easily watch 5 college games and 4 NFL games a week, consuming 30 hours a week, not counting "Game Day" and countless sports highlights and commentary shows. Many sports fans do just that, bleary-eyed by late Saturday night, but by Sunday morning eagerly anticipating the next round of games. This devotion to football is immoderate if not idolatrous, gobbling up time that ought to be devoted to family, exercise, vacation, charity or the cultivation of the soul.
What can be done about it? Observe the Sabbath and abstain from all competitive athletics, whether as a spectator or athlete, on Sunday. The Sabbath, like tithing and fasting, are disciplines of moderation. We are tempted to make idols out of our secular passions, whether vocational or avocational (spectator sports, hobbies, food, etc.). Sabbath, tithing, and fasting (all sorts of fasting) draw a line and say "thus far and not further." Inclined to make money your god? Tithing requires that you turn 10% of your increase over to God. Inclined to make food your god? Fasting requires that one abstain from all food for a period. Obsessed with hunting, fishing, golf, reading detective novels, gardening or whatever? The Sabbath demands at least the moderation of Sunday abstinence, 24 hours without your obsession.
These disciplines are not a cure-all. They don't solve the problem of over-indulgence. These are heart issues that must be resolved, that only the Holy Spirit can handle. Rather, they should be seen as one weapon in the arsenal of sanctification. They provide regular, structured reminders that we are called to higher ends and therefore to moderation to all the pleasures available to us in this world.
The Disciplines of Moderation
by Terry Johnson Dec 01, 2008
When I was growing up in Los Angeles in the 1960's and 70's, there was one college football game broadcast on television each week-"the game of the week." It might be a Big Ten game, a Notre Dame game, or an SEC game, but there was just one. That was it. On Sunday, two NFL games were broadcast, an east coast game in the morning and a west coast game in the afternoon. Almost all local games were blocked-out unless sold out, a criterion almost beyond reach in LA's massive Memorial Coliseum.
In the 1980's the NFL added Monday Night Football. Then Sunday Night Football. In the 1990's and 2000's, the NCAA and the cable channels added multiple Saturday games, extending from noon until after 2:00a.m. Saturday morning. "Game Day" starts at 10:30a.m. on ESPN. A Thursday night game was added just a few years ago. One could easily watch 5 college games and 4 NFL games a week, consuming 30 hours a week, not counting "Game Day" and countless sports highlights and commentary shows. Many sports fans do just that, bleary-eyed by late Saturday night, but by Sunday morning eagerly anticipating the next round of games. This devotion to football is immoderate if not idolatrous, gobbling up time that ought to be devoted to family, exercise, vacation, charity or the cultivation of the soul.
What can be done about it? Observe the Sabbath and abstain from all competitive athletics, whether as a spectator or athlete, on Sunday. The Sabbath, like tithing and fasting, are disciplines of moderation. We are tempted to make idols out of our secular passions, whether vocational or avocational (spectator sports, hobbies, food, etc.). Sabbath, tithing, and fasting (all sorts of fasting) draw a line and say "thus far and not further." Inclined to make money your god? Tithing requires that you turn 10% of your increase over to God. Inclined to make food your god? Fasting requires that one abstain from all food for a period. Obsessed with hunting, fishing, golf, reading detective novels, gardening or whatever? The Sabbath demands at least the moderation of Sunday abstinence, 24 hours without your obsession.
These disciplines are not a cure-all. They don't solve the problem of over-indulgence. These are heart issues that must be resolved, that only the Holy Spirit can handle. Rather, they should be seen as one weapon in the arsenal of sanctification. They provide regular, structured reminders that we are called to higher ends and therefore to moderation to all the pleasures available to us in this world.
