Fan or Just for the game?

        Do you attend the game or are you a fan?  The announcer at our local baseball team will often speak about the "fans" that are present at the ball game.  The truth of the matter is probably that there are some who are present that are fans while the rest are just there for the game.  The Salem Red Sox fan is a person who wears red much of the time, has a baseball cap that they wear even when they are not supposed to have their head covered, has pennants in his house, two flags on his car, attends almost every game and will even travel some distance to see them play in a game that is away from home.  They live and breathe baseball and support their team in any way they can.  That would be a "fan."  The rest of the people present are there just for the game or for the fact that they had nothing else to do that evening.  John 14:21 says, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."  
       Now, we turn to the average church attender.  Is he or she there for the service or because they are a devout follower of the Lord Jesus Christ?   Are you and myself there because we love the Lord Jesus Christ with all of our heart, and soul, and mind and strength, or are we there just for the service?  I saw a picture of a group of people sitting in the bleachers of a football game and they all had several inches of snow on them, yet they remained at the game.  At the same time, there are those people who will tend to leave a church because they feel either too warm or too cold, or the music is too loud, or the preacher goes too long.  The word "fan" is a shortened version of "fanatic."  We may not like to be called a "fanatic" in anything, but that is what we need to be.  We don't like to use the word "fanatic" when referring to church but would rather be called a "disciple."  Either way, the most important condition is going to be how we regard our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  The key is found in this verse of Scripture which says that the true disciple is going to be the person who has the commandments of Christ and keeps them.  One of the most difficult commandments to keep when referring to Christ is the one given in John 13:34-35.  It says, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another..  Now, are we true "fans" or are we just there for the game?  Praise God today for His working in our lives each and every day.