My favorite youth sport program that I put my kids through was the Kilgore Youth Basketball Association. One of the things that made it so great were the two guys that would referee the games. The moms and dads would try to give the referees grief when they thought they made a bad call, but these guys wouldn't back down and they would give it right back to the loud parents. Their referee style was unique. On a basketball team with 5th graders and below you might have one or two kids that truly understood basketball and were going to one day excel in it. Most of the other kids were just having fun watching the world go by. So the refs would often go easy on the kids that just didn't get it (or else they would be blowing traveling and foul whistles the entire game), but for the one's who truly grasped the game, they would be hard on them, making sure they corrected bad habits. Most of the kids would be done with this sport after 5th grade, but for the select few, they would go on and represent their High School one day. They were set apart for something better, their rules were different for them so that they would one day achieve greatness. As Christians we are also called to be set apart, we are called to look differently than the culture around us, and our God has a higher standard set for his people. This week we discuss how we are called to live holy and pure lives more and more, until Christ comes!
