What Larry Fitzgerald Can Teach Us About the Christian Walk

Last night in an intense game against the Seattle Seahawks, Larry Fitzgerald made his 1,400th career reception. With this catch, he now holds the record for the second-most number of receptions in NFL history (second only to Jerry Rice, who also played three more years than Larry has). This is a phenomenal milestone, one that deserves to be celebrated.

After the catch, the Cardinals took a timeout, and Larry's milestone was briefly celebrated, that is, by the fans and some of the players. However, Larry wasn't found celebrating. In fact, a reporter happened to grab him after the drive, and Larry had some extraordinary words to say. I wish I would have written them down, and I can't find them anywhere on the internet (apparently they were more phenomenal to me than any NFL journalist). Nevertheless, he said something along the lines of how they still had a game to play, and how he alongside the team had to work hard and finish the task at hand, and that he could "smell the roses" later.

Once again, I really wish I would have written down the exact quote, but the principle of what he was saying was clear: there's still work to do here; we can't celebrate yet. Someday, when the battle is over, we can stop and "smell the roses," but not now. Now's not the time. We must win the war first.

Honestly, I think this is a great way to look at the Christian life. Through this statement, Larry (who has been very open over the past two decades about his Christian faith) portrays a great way to live our lives: not celebrating until the war is won. So often as Christians, I think we stop and "smell the roses" before the war is won. In the middle of the fight, we throw down our swords and strip off our armor right when the enemy is about to attack. We celebrate the victory of the past battle, yet we forget that the war is still going on, and there is another battle to be fought. We often forget that after someone is won to Christ, there are millions more to be won to him. We often think that once we conquer one temptation, we can lay our swords down as if other temptations didn't need to be fought. We often stop and "smell the roses" before the war is completed, and this is greatly to our detriment and to the detriment to God's kingdom's advancement.

But what would it look like if we followed God's words in Hebrews 12:7: "It is for discipline that you have to endure"? What would it look like if we followed James' counsel in James 1:2-3: "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness"? What if we heeded Christ's instruction in Matthew 24:13: "But the one who endures to the end will be saved"?

Ultimately, what I'm trying to say is this: we live in a Christian culture that is overcome with laziness. We think that relatively small "victories" give us an excuse to sit down, turn on the TV, and play video games for five hours rather than witnessing to our neighbors, reading our Bibles, or simply doing the yard work that needs to be done. We think that reading our Bibles for ten minutes (or less) each day gives us an excus to "slack off" at the other Christian disciplines like perseverance and faithful witnessing. We often go to church and check the box of "Christianity" for the week, celebrate the victory, and "smell the roses" from Monday through Saturday. But what I want to ask you this morning is this: is that how the Bible really teaches us to live? Is Christianity a Sunday, 10:45-12:00 type of thing, or a 24/7, 365 days-a-year type of thing? I think if we read scripture plainly, we would find it to be the latter.

So, let me encourage you this morning: stop smelling the roses before the battle is over. Look, I am all for Christian rest, Christian sabbath, and Christian vacations (yes, yes, and amen!), but let us realize that the point of this rest is to motivate our work. If we are not resting for the purpose of working, our rest is in vain. If we are not resting for the purpose of sweat-making, muscle-aching, hand-dirtying Kingdom work, we aren't observing rest, we're observing laziness. We're simply "smelling the roses" before the battle is over. Beloved, let me encourage you: there is an eternal future that God has stored for us to rest from persecutions, troubles, toils, and snares, but that time is not now. Right now, God has called us to pick up our swords and fight. Someday, we will have all day long to stop and "smell the roses," but that time is not now. So in the meantime, let us labor for the Kingdom.