We Live For This

Last week I saw a fascinating commercial during a football game—it was for Pepsi.  The ad follows NFL fans from several different teams as they get ready for the game, and it also features a few big-name players like Dak Prescott and Antonio Brown.  The camera is on each person only for a second or so as they hum along with the NFL theme song tune.  During the half-minute ad, the music builds and the anticipation rises.  Just before the end a bunch of fans take their place on the couch to watch the big game, all smiles, and (of course) Pepsi in hand.  The commercial ends with the following line plastered in big, bold letters across the screen:

WE LIVE FOR THIS

Now before I say that that’s a really foolish thing to say, as a descrip­tion of modern life for a great many Americans it is in fact quite accurate.  People do live for the weekend and live for the next party and live for the thrill of an NFL game. 

And as an Eagles fan, I must confess:  I can get very caught up in the hoopla; I can find myself investing emotional energy and mental focus in a game (plus, I can find myself fairly disturbed when the team has a melt-down like they did last Sunday at Tennessee).

In light of all this, I’m actually thankful for the Pepsi Declaration:  You see, it’s so brazen, so blunt; it says what we often feel but don’t quite put into words.  The ad forces us to ponder what’s really going on with all the sports hero worship.  We’ve fallen in love with fleeting pleasures and trivial games that don’t offer true heart-satisfaction.

They can’t—because you were made to worship True Greatness.  If you let your heart settle for the transitory thrills of a game, it will ruin your “appetite” to feed on and find deep fulfillment from what’s eternally soul-nourishing.  It’s like pigging-out on marsh­mallows just before Thanksgiving dinner.  Why would you do such a thing?

I hope you have a little fun with sports-mania.  But I also hope you let the Pepsi Declaration jolt you into seeing the folly of living for what cannot truly satisfy and will soon vanish in the grand, eternal, scheme of things, and instead fix your worship upon Jesus Christ!