It’s a memory engraved on my brain from my college coach, Dean Smith. He said it regularly, sometimes even right before our games: Read your jersey.
Coach Smith wanted us to consider the full meaning of what our jerseys displayed: the University of North Carolina. He was reminding us that when we played, we were representing every fan, former student, present student, and indeed the entire state.
Therefore, we should play hard, smart, and together. Playing with a respect for the game - and our audience - that would make the university proud. Reflect positively on who we were representing.
What does this mean for followers of Jesus? Answer this question: What would happen if Christians did the same? Reminded ourselves daily that we represent Jesus and his Kingdom with our words, attitudes, and behaviors?
What if we wore a jersey every day that read “Christ-follower”? Would we be positively representing Jesus to those around us?
We are not our own. We are alive now only because we were bought with a price through Jesus’s death on the cross (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
We live for him. His glory. Kingdom. Name.
Followers of Jesus should live accordingly.