With platform comes responsibility

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:48b

Even for the virtually clueless when it comes to all things “football” (that would be me), I am not unaware of what monumental event is just around the corner – Super Bowl. Although I enjoy the food and the company far more than I enjoy actually watching the game, I recognize that this is as close to a National Holiday as it gets. Every weekend for the past few months has succeeded in building the hype and anticipation of which two teams will play in this sacred game. And now we know. The Seattle Seahawks will duke it out with the Denver Broncos come February 2, and just in case you were wondering, YES, I did have to look that up on the internet.

There’s something else that more than likely hasn’t escaped our attention from yesterday’s headlines, whether football does it for you or not. Richard Sherman’s outburst left me utterly speechless, well, until now. I don’t watch much football, and admittedly can’t really seem to understand the game, but I’m an athlete at heart. I’ve played sports since I was able to walk, and one thing I do understand is that winning should be celebrated. One of my favorite movies of all time is “A League of Their Own”. In one of the opening scenes, the two sisters are walking home after a softball game that they just won. The older sister and better ball player is in good spirits while the younger sister who struck out in the last inning is in a foul mood. The older sister’s fabulous line applies perfectly to this post: “Kit, we won. Get made if we lose.”

This is precisely why I found myself baffled by Sherman’s outburst, perhaps along with many of you. I know there’s more to the story. I know he wrote a public response to his rage-filled outburst, but the fact of the matter remains.

With platform comes responsibility.

I have no clue whether or not Sherman knows the Lord, and I don’t presume to make any such judgment about the matter. I do know, however, that millions were watching. And with that platform comes a tremendous amount of responsibility.

The same goes for you and I. In the realm of faith, the world is watching us, Church. They are watching how we respond to hardship and triumph. They don’t forget when we display weak or even not existent faith in difficulty, and they certainly remember when we boast in pride in our victories. They are watching, and they are determining WHO CHRIST IS based on our representation of Him.

Again, I have no idea whether or not Sherman knows and loves Jesus. What I do know is that on his platform, he willingly handed every person watching the right to lose respect for him. What, my friends, are we doing with the platforms we have been given? You don’t need to be on TV or be a professional athlete to possess a platform. We all have them. And so this truth remains:

With platform comes responsibility. Don’t abuse it. Don’t misuse it. The world is watching.