You’ve seen this scene before.

People gather together every week for one cause — clapping, singing, worshiping. They donate their hard-earned money and their time, knowing they wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Heaven, they believe, surely will be something like this. Were you picturing a church? It’s actually a sports event happening in cities across America.

We have this love-affair with sports and we will pay hundreds of dollars for game tickets and sports gear with our team’s logo on it…won’t we? Without hesitation we join in an addictive rant while at games, watching games and checking on games via social media with our praise or curses concerning our teams’ play.

Now picture this. You’re a Red Sox fan and you’re visiting friends in New York and they invite you to a Yankees game (I know it’s tough, but stay with me). You’re a Patriots fan and you’re invited to an Indianapolis Colts game (even tougher to watch) with work colleagues. You so want to wear your team’s game shirt, but you’re outnumbered and want to fit in. So what do you do?

You keep quiet!

You know, you’re a bit embarrassed to cheer for your team and you’re apprehensive to let others know what team you’re really for so you metaphorically throw on a game shirt that everyone else is wearing so you can fit in.

We often find ourselves in this strange space when it comes to God. A space where it’s kind of awkward to have a belief in God in a world where the Gospel feels drowned out by the loud distortion of the world. If it’s easy for us to cover up our team for a sporting event, it’s easy for us to do the same for what we believe. Because of fear and our deep desire to fit in, we will gladly put on another team shirt to cover up ours and play along with the crowd.

We put on another team’s shirt out of fear.

We know that God is kind, compassionate, loving, awesome, etc…but He seems to get a bad rap based on the actions of many who call themselves Christians. Ever notice that the most outspoken people who believe they are speaking on God’s behalf are the most obnoxious people in the world? These people offend people without faith and those that have faith. Here is the rub, there are times when we believe the very thing that one of those obnoxious Christians believe and we don’t want to be associated with them.

The irony is that most of us would be more free to identify with Jesus if it wasn’t for these people who were identified with Jesus. The people who’ve convinced themselves that they are speaking ‘on God’s behalf’ make people run from Him instead of into His arms. Right?

Let me ask you a question. Do you think that God is crazy about the obnoxious people who claim to represent Him?

We put on another team’s shirt during an identity crisis.

There a couple of things at play here. People tend to generalize. If people meet one obnoxious Christian, and they usually do, then they conclude that all Christians are obnoxious. Christians aren’t modelling a different culture and lifestyle to the world. Christians have some serious house cleaning to do to get back to a place where they embrace, embody and live the true Gospel.

Here is where many find ourselves. We signed up for the Jesus thing, we believe in Him, we put our hope in Him — but we are terrified in being identified with Him.

Jesus is giving us a clear choice over and over again — will we be identified with Him? Because He is not at all hesitant in being identified with us. You and I are the ones with the issue here.

When we begin to identify with Jesus, when we admit that we are with Him, when we are proud to be on His team and wear His logo…He begins to show us in our lives in an awesome way!

Something to think about. What if we cared as much about following in His footsteps as we are with all the other teams except the one you’re already on? What if we showed the same heartfelt passion over the worship of God as we do cheering for all the other teams except the one you’re already on?

Jesus wants us to live the life He is calling us to and to put us in a position to be heard from the most people in your life. Not with an arrogance judgmental posture, but with a loving posture demonstrated by Jesus Himself.

We believe that Jesus is great at church on any given Sunday, but that He doesn’t know how to help us live our lives the rest of the week. We think that somehow that Jesus doesn’t understand the rules of real life. If we are going to go deeper with Him, we will have to step into a new posture and say, “I’m with Jesus and I’m not afraid to be identified with Him!”

Jesus wants to invade your space and wants to be a part of every aspect of your life…not just on any given Sunday!

What do you need to do to posture yourself to be heard by the most people in your circles…so that people searching for God can stop running into the those that are obnoxious, arrogant, judgmental and condemning?

It’s time to take the other team’s shirt off and play hard for your team — God’s team!

This world needs to know you and the world needs to know your story. The story of how your life is being shaped by the God who created you is the best proof of God to others. He wants to validate His life in you for others to see.

Today…stop with the fear and identity complex. Put on your game shirt and bring humanity back to God!