{"id":671581,"date":"2026-01-12T14:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T14:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/671581\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T14:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T14:23:13","slug":"watching-seven-playoff-games-but-avoiding-the-golden-globes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/671581\/","title":{"rendered":"Watching seven playoff games but avoiding the Golden Globes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Apple<\/a>\"Spotify\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a busy weekend for some subsets of American society.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a college football fan, you likely watched Miami and Indiana win their playoff games (Indiana \u201clooks like it will never lose again,\u201d according to<\/a> one of my favorite sports commentators). If you\u2019re a pro football fan (as many seem to be<\/a> these days), you had five games to watch, including the Bears\u2019 comeback for the ages Saturday night, with one more contest tonight. If you\u2019re a movie and TV fan, you likely watched the Golden Globes last night, where One Battle After Another and Hamnet won<\/a> their categories.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re none of the above, you\u2019re wondering if you should keep reading this morning.<\/p>\n

I understand the question. While I watched every football game I mentioned, I have not seen even one of the movies or TV shows for which Golden Globes were awarded. As a result, I am avoiding reviews of last night\u2019s ceremony this morning. Time is too short to spend it on what is irrelevant to me today.<\/p>\n

This fact is more relevant to our souls than many people seem to know.<\/p>\n

The \u201ccontainer\u201d and its \u201ccontents\u201d<\/p>\n

The Franciscan priest Richard Rohr begins Falling Upward<\/a>, his meditation on the spiritual life, this way:<\/p>\n

There is much evidence on several levels that there are at least two major tasks to human life. The first task is to build a strong \u201ccontainer\u201d or identity; the second is to find the contents that the container was meant to hold.<\/p>\n

In this first \u201ctask,\u201d we ask the essential questions, \u201cWhat makes me significant?\u201d, \u201cHow can I support myself?\u201d, and \u201cWho will go with me?\u201d However, the \u201ccontainer\u201d these questions help to define \u201cis not an end in itself, but exists for the sake of our deeper and fuller life, which we largely do not know about ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

When we focus on the \u201ccontainer\u201d but not the \u201ccontents,\u201d over time, we inevitably resign ourselves to lives without meaning, or we fixate on means as ends and commit ourselves to aims unworthy of our divine purpose. But when we learn to focus on the purpose for which our lives are intended in what Rohr calls the \u201csecond half of life,\u201d several positive consequences occur:<\/p>\n

We have less and less need or interest in eliminating the negative or fearful, making again these old rash judgments, holding onto old hurts, or feeling any need to punish other people. Our superiority complexes have gradually departed in all directions. We do not fight these things anymore; they have just shown themselves too many times to be useless, ego-based, counterproductive, and often entirely wrong.<\/p>\n

So, what is the purpose for which our lives and our time are best spent?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we know whose we are\u201d<\/p>\n

I learned recently that I am a direct descendant of two of the passengers on the Mayflower voyage to the New World in 1620. In fact, my great-grandfather (times ten) was apparently the last of these passengers to die.<\/p>\n

In the moment I learned this about myself, I viscerally felt myself to be a person of greater historical significance. It was as though I became the child of a celebrity and thus a celebrity myself. Absolutely nothing tangible changed about my life: I didn\u2019t suddenly become richer or wiser. But knowing whose I am, in this context, enhanced my sense of who I am.<\/p>\n

Br. Geoffrey Tristam of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston claims<\/a> that my impulse is more foundational and empowering than I thought: \u201cWhen we know whose we are, we know who we are.\u201d He points to Jesus\u2019 baptism, commemorated<\/a> yesterday by many Christian traditions, at which the Father proclaimed, \u201cThis is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased\u201d (Matthew 3:17).<\/p>\n

Then he notes that Jesus\u2019 subsequent temptations were \u201cprecisely about doubting and denying his true identity.\u201d The first two began, \u201cIf you are the Son of God . . .\u201d (Matthew 4:3, 5). The third similarly tempted Jesus to abandon his identity as God\u2019s Son and worship Satan instead (v. 9).<\/p>\n

According to Tristam, \u201cIt is only after he has gone through this inner struggle that he could emerge and begin his public ministry.\u201d Through the rest of that ministry, Jesus never wavered from his identity as his Father\u2019s Son. He sought his Father\u2019s glory, prayed for his blessing, chose his will over his own, committed his spirit to him in death, returned to him in Paradise, and intercedes at his right hand today.<\/p>\n

Now he wants to help us embrace his identity as our own.<\/p>\n

From \u201cson of thunder\u201d to \u201capostle of love\u201d<\/p>\n

As you know, when we trust in Christ as our Lord, we become \u201cchildren of God\u201d (John 1:12). Now our Father wants his children to become like his Son.<\/p>\n

As Paul explained, \u201cThe Lord\u2014who is the Spirit\u2014makes us more and more like [Christ] as we are changed into his glorious image\u201d (2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT). God\u2019s purpose is to \u201csanctify you completely\u201d so that \u201cyour whole spirit and soul and body [will] be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ\u201d (1 Thessalonians 5:23).<\/p>\n

However, we separate clergy from laity and thus believe (though we might not say it in words) that true godliness is for the professionals. This makes sense in other realms: professional golfers and musicians perform in ways we cannot, and so on.<\/p>\n

But Jesus wants his entire church to be \u201choly and without blemish\u201d (Ephesians 5:27). Our Father\u2019s goal is that every one of us be \u201cguiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ\u201d (1 Corinthians 1:8).<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

God\u2019s purpose in making us like Christ is not just that we experience the \u201cabundant\u201d life he intends for us (John 10:10). It is also that we become catalysts for restoring humanity to him, salt and light in a decaying and dark world, witnesses whose words and works are so compelling that multitudes are drawn to him.<\/p>\n

The Spirit transformed a fearful fisherman into a fearless evangelist (Acts 2). He made the church\u2019s greatest persecutor into its greatest evangelist, missionary, and theologian (cf. 1 Timothy 1:15\u201316). He turned a \u201cson of thunder\u201d (Mark 3:17) into the \u201capostle of love\u201d (cf. 1 John 4:7\u201312).<\/p>\n

And people changed by Jesus into the character of Jesus changed the world. They still do.<\/p>\n

For what purpose will you spend your time and life? With what \u201ccontents\u201d will you fill your \u201ccontainer\u201d? How will you express your identity as God\u2019s child?<\/p>\n

God\u2019s Spirit will make us as much like God\u2019s Son as we choose to be.<\/p>\n

How much like Jesus do you want to be today?<\/p>\n

Quote for the day:<\/p>\n

\u201cSanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the disposition that ruled him will rule us. It will cost everything that is not of God in us.\u201d \u2014Oswald Chambers<\/p>\n

Our latest website resources:<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Share<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a busy weekend for some subsets of American society. If you\u2019re a college football fan, you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,97774,692,391,2493,7,97775,97776,11612,6,97777],"class_list":{"0":"post-671581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-bears","9":"tag-becoming-like-christ","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-bears","12":"tag-chicagobears","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-hobbies","15":"tag-interests","16":"tag-movies","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-sanctification"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115882584169000515","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}