Parents have a blind spot that we need to talk about. Yes, there are a lot of things we could do better, but can we just look at a biggie today without getting defensive? OK, why is it that we are willing to spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on extracurricular school activities (mainly sports) and yet complain about spending money for a mission trip?

Some of us are just too concerned with getting our kids into sports programs when there is little chance of becoming a professional athlete. The problem is one of priorities: we neglect a huge part of our children's spiritual development.

People are going to put their money behind their priorities. When we invest in sports while neglecting our children’s spiritual development, what does that say about our priorities? It’s a sad fact of life in a post-Christian society.

We want our kids to grow up to be decent human beings; we want them to be nice people who do moral things. Maybe we’ve calculated that going to church a couple of times a week will accomplish that.

By contrast, to excel extracurricularly, the price is high and everyone else is already paying it. Bottom line: sports are more important than Jesus.

The trouble is, Jesus never set it up this way. He said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”

His point is that we sell out completely and it’s joy that causes us to sell out. If you’re radically saved and are experiencing serious, God-given joy, then the issue of priorities, of sports over Jesus, is not an issue.