The Killing, uh Easy Chair

In his new book, When the Game Is Over It All Goes Back in the Box (Zondervan, 2007), John Ortberg writes about what it takes to really win in the game of life. Ortberg believes that how we live determines what happens when the game is over. He encourages readers to arrange their lives around eternal objectives instead of earthly possessions that are here today and gone tomorrow.

He encourages us to get in the game, but not the one played by most of America. He believes one particular piece of household furniture prevents more of us from engaging life with hands-on action than any other---the recliner or "EZ chair". Throw in a television remote and you've got a prescription for a life of disengagement. Ortberg warns about the dangers of life in the EZ chair:

What's so dangerous about this chair is not the things you do while you're in it. It's the things you don't do, the relationships you never deepen, the people in need you never serve---never even see. It's the great prayers you never pray, noble thoughts you never think, adventures you never take. It the races you never run and the battles you never fight, the laughs you don't laugh and the tears you don't weep. You were made for something more than life in the chair. It may be the most dangerous object in your house. (p. 138)

Ortberg is right. I'm guilty too. We unplug from life in the EZ chair. Sometimes we need to do that, but when the EZ chair becomes the dominant piece of furniture in our life (our focus) it can lead to apathy, laziness and a general disinterest in the meaningful things of life. Who needs to worry about terrorism claiming our country when most of us are killing the ingenuity, passion and forces of creativity all through our inactivity in a single chair?

"EZ Chair Terrorism," is a bigger threat to our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health than Osama. It's hard to engage the culture and pursue Jesus' call to be life-changers from a reclined position. I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10b)

Get out of the chair!