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Aah, Sunday. The day that families gather together in church to worship Jesus, spend time in prayer, praise God in song, and generally do what Christians have been doing for the last two millennia.

Sunday is that special day, that set apart day when Christians follow the example set by God by resting. After 6 days of creation God took a day to rest and then told us to do the same. It’s on Sunday that we show the world we are different as we spend time with our church family and then rest.

An important aspect of the training we will provide for our children will be in how we treat the Lord’s Day. Is it just another day to get things done? Is it no different than say…Saturday? How do we show the people around us that Sunday is a day dedicated to the Lord?

When I was younger I would often use a Sunday afternoon to wash and wax my car. I’m a bit of a clean freak when it comes to my vehicle and Sunday was a good day to make the car shine for the week ahead. Unbeknownst to me I was treating Sunday as any other day. My attitude was one in which I saw the Lord’s Day as a day for my purpose, and my pleasure.

But Sunday is a day specifically set apart for God’s glory. It’s a day for spending time with our church family and resting in God’s presence. Our kids should see a clear difference between Sunday and every other day so they understand that Sunday is not ours, it’s God’s.

An article at Desiring God highlights the need for parents to prioritize Sunday for their kids in light of all the competing forces seeking to be a god on Sunday morning. The article specifically commented on what it called the “god of amateur athletics.”

“In this conversation, there’s no doubt that amateur athletics have claimed a central place in the pantheon of our culture’s false gods, and youth athletics is a further subset of the idolization of children. A Sunday morning drive past any youth sports fields will show just how far-reaching these idols have become in our culture.”

There’s no doubt we are all aware of how sports has become a god in our culture. Kids sports are no different. It has often been noted that parents will drive for miles, sit out in the cold or rain, and spend large sums of money for their kids to play a game. The dedication parents and kids have to sports is admirable. But, as it’s often been noted, the same dedication doesn’t exist for the church.

One question we have to ask ourselves, as parents, is “What do I want my kids to prioritize when they are grown?” If we prioritize sports over church for our kids while they are young, can we expect them to prioritize church when they are older? That seems unrealistic. The example we set today will be carried into tomorrow.

When I was a kid, playing sports, my parents made it very clear to my coaches on day one that I won’t miss church for a game or practice. I can remember many times being on the baseball field on Wednesday afternoon and the coach stopping the game so I could leave the field and head to church. I showed up to church in a dirty baseball uniform on more than one occasion.

That example has stayed with me. As I grew older I continued to prioritize church attendance. And now, as a parent, I seek to prioritize church attendance for my own family. It’s a challenging endeavor in our current culture. Coaches and teams don’t respect religious convictions the way they did when I was a kid. Kids will be penalized by not starting the game or even sitting out for a game if they miss a practice or leave a game early.

The Desiring God article gives two pieces of practical advice that I found really helpful for parents sstruggling to prioritize church in a culture that doesn’t respect their religious convictions:

Consider a rec league with fewer demands: parents can step back and consider whether playing recreational league sports is better than higher level sports, which require more travel.

Embrace the consequences of missing practices or games: consider absorbing the consequences of missing sports on Sunday. Even the recreational league featured Sunday practices,and this posed a problem. “Because it was a  rec level, we felt free to tell the coach that we were going to miss some Sunday’s,” Mary says. “There were times when we went to church and missed hockey practice, and that meant that our son was sitting out the next game.” The consequences were worth it

Sports is a good thing. But sports is not the best thing. When we prioritize sports in our own life or in the lives of our kids, we do two things:

1 – We place an idol in our lives. Anything that takes priority over God and His Word is an idol. Idolatry is subtle in our culture, but rampant. Many things can easily become an idol before we even know it. Sports is certainly among the top idols in American culture.
2 – We set a poor example for our kids. In almost every circumstance where sports is prioritized, the kids often stray far from God and church. It happens so often it’s hard to deny. The example we set for our kids will have a lifelong impact on them.

The real question we have to answer as parents is, “Is sports more important than faithful attendance in our local church?” The answer to that question will reveal a lot about us as parents, and as Christians.