J.I. Packer, in his book “Knowing God,” explains that God’s instructions for life “show us what man was made to be, and teaches us how to be truly human, and warns us against moral destruction.” Disobedience to God’s commands tears apart our own souls. 

An NFL player asked if I would join him for lunch to answer a few pressing questions. He wanted to know why his talented brother would give up a promising sports career to go into the ministry. When he told me how his brother had come to know Christ, he also told me that he had not committed his life to Christ. 

We talked about two reasons people don’t become Christians. They either have an intellectual reason (find it difficult to believe the Bible is reliable) or a moral reason (they don’t like God’s moral standards). Without hesitation, my NFL friend said, “Oh, no question, I don’t agree with God’s moral standards.” 

In all my years in professional sports locker rooms, I never heard men wish they had the life of the player who was a mess because he rejected God’s rule in his life. I heard the opposite often. 

A Christian quarterback coach told me that his head coach, who had no regard for God, would sadly say how much he wished he had the family and life of the QB coach. So often a wild player would point to a Christian in the locker room, and say how he wished he had the life he saw in him. Obedience to God provides a very different picture in an unhinged culture. 

As much as some people guard their independence from God who presents truth, authority and power, they wish for the life that an obedient Jesus follower experiences. 

How do we live in an unhinged culture? Simply trust and obey our sovereign God.

Today’s devotional is one of five this week on “Living In An Unhinged Culture” by Tom Petersburg.