Bulldogs and Belonging
Can you spend your whole life around Christianity and still miss Jesus? Yes… you can.
This past week, I had the blessing of speaking at chapel at Happy Hollow Christian Academy, and I centered the message on 1 Corinthians 13. Chapel is always a sweet time for us. We sing, open God’s Word, and remember together that Jesus is not just part of life. He is Lord over all of it.
I started with a simple question:
“Who likes the Georgia Bulldogs?”
That got the response I expected. Plenty of cheers. A few dissenters.
Then I asked:
"If you wear a Bulldogs jersey, does that make you part of the team?"
No.
"If you go to every game, does that make you part of the team?"
No.
"If you talk about the Bulldogs every day, read about them, watch them on TV, come from a long line of UGA fans, and play football in the backyard wearing a Georgia jersey, does any of that make you part of the team?"
Every time, the answer was the same.
No!
And that was the point.
There are a lot of things you can do around something...without actually belonging to it.
That’s what makes 1 Corinthians 13 so piercing. Paul says you can speak impressively, know deep things, give sacrificially, and even do outwardly costly things, but without love, it amounts to nothing. Not less than it could have been. Nothing.
The gym grew quiet, and rightly so.
This is not just a danger for students. It’s a danger for all of us. We can learn the language, keep the routines, follow the expectations, and still be missing the very thing that marks the life of Jesus in us.
Love.
Not sentimental love.
Not mere politeness.
Not tolerance dressed up as virtue.
The kind of love that is patient when you are interrupted.
The kind of love that is kind when someone has made your day harder.
The kind of love that does not have to win, does not keep score, does not parade itself, and does not treat people as obstacles.
That kind of love isn’t produced by rule-keeping. It’s the fruit of being loved by Jesus and changed by the Spirit.
That’s where this passage pushes us beyond behavior and down into the heart.
Because the answer isn’t, “Try harder to be nicer.”
The answer is being shaped by Jesus.
Jesus didn’t merely tell us to love. He loved us first…perfectly, patiently, and at great cost. At the cross, He bore our lovelessness, our pride, our coldness, and our selfishness. In His resurrection, He didn’t simply give us a better example. He gave us new life.
That means Christian love isn’t a performance we put on to prove we belong.
It’s fruit that grows because we do.
That was what I wanted our students to hear, but it was also what my own heart needed again.
You can attend chapel.
You can know the verses.
You can follow the rules.
You can grow up around Christianity.
And still miss Jesus.
So here's the question I left with our students, and the one I'm still asking myself:
Am I merely around the things of Jesus, or is the love of Jesus actually reshaping the way I treat people?
Where has my Christianity become routine, but not tender?
Who in front of me right now needs the kind of love Jesus has shown me?
Because the real evidence of His work in us isn’t merely right beliefs and outward rule-keeping, but inward transformation by His Spirit…seen in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
And that is good news for tired people like us. Jesus is not asking us to manufacture what only He can produce. He is calling us to abide in the One who loved us first. Because Jesus rescued and redeemed, the Father is not done with you.
This past week, I had the blessing of speaking at chapel at Happy Hollow Christian Academy, and I centered the message on 1 Corinthians 13. Chapel is always a sweet time for us. We sing, open God’s Word, and remember together that Jesus is not just part of life. He is Lord over all of it.
I started with a simple question:
“Who likes the Georgia Bulldogs?”
That got the response I expected. Plenty of cheers. A few dissenters.
Then I asked:
"If you wear a Bulldogs jersey, does that make you part of the team?"
No.
"If you go to every game, does that make you part of the team?"
No.
"If you talk about the Bulldogs every day, read about them, watch them on TV, come from a long line of UGA fans, and play football in the backyard wearing a Georgia jersey, does any of that make you part of the team?"
Every time, the answer was the same.
No!
And that was the point.
There are a lot of things you can do around something...without actually belonging to it.
That’s what makes 1 Corinthians 13 so piercing. Paul says you can speak impressively, know deep things, give sacrificially, and even do outwardly costly things, but without love, it amounts to nothing. Not less than it could have been. Nothing.
The gym grew quiet, and rightly so.
This is not just a danger for students. It’s a danger for all of us. We can learn the language, keep the routines, follow the expectations, and still be missing the very thing that marks the life of Jesus in us.
Love.
Not sentimental love.
Not mere politeness.
Not tolerance dressed up as virtue.
The kind of love that is patient when you are interrupted.
The kind of love that is kind when someone has made your day harder.
The kind of love that does not have to win, does not keep score, does not parade itself, and does not treat people as obstacles.
That kind of love isn’t produced by rule-keeping. It’s the fruit of being loved by Jesus and changed by the Spirit.
That’s where this passage pushes us beyond behavior and down into the heart.
Because the answer isn’t, “Try harder to be nicer.”
The answer is being shaped by Jesus.
Jesus didn’t merely tell us to love. He loved us first…perfectly, patiently, and at great cost. At the cross, He bore our lovelessness, our pride, our coldness, and our selfishness. In His resurrection, He didn’t simply give us a better example. He gave us new life.
That means Christian love isn’t a performance we put on to prove we belong.
It’s fruit that grows because we do.
That was what I wanted our students to hear, but it was also what my own heart needed again.
You can attend chapel.
You can know the verses.
You can follow the rules.
You can grow up around Christianity.
And still miss Jesus.
So here's the question I left with our students, and the one I'm still asking myself:
Am I merely around the things of Jesus, or is the love of Jesus actually reshaping the way I treat people?
Where has my Christianity become routine, but not tender?
Who in front of me right now needs the kind of love Jesus has shown me?
Because the real evidence of His work in us isn’t merely right beliefs and outward rule-keeping, but inward transformation by His Spirit…seen in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
And that is good news for tired people like us. Jesus is not asking us to manufacture what only He can produce. He is calling us to abide in the One who loved us first. Because Jesus rescued and redeemed, the Father is not done with you.
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