The concept of faith in sports is fascinating to me because it brings about questions such as: does God care who wins? To answer that question, I would say yes and no. Jesus doesn’t really care about the result of a game, but He does care about if you honor and reflect Him in it.
But that’s just one example of what makes it such an interesting concept because it’s a fine line you must walk as a Christian and an athlete, coach or fan.
Sports aren’t a sinful thing, and personally God has used them tremendously to shape my character in Him and refine my faith.
They teach people how to be a part of a team and put others before themselves, how to be disciplined, how to exercise and take care of your body, how to be steadfast and how to be accountable.
All of which are things that you can not only honor God with, but you can also use to grow in your faith.
They also provide the daily opportunity to witness to others by ensured daily interaction, travel and so on.
I’ve gotten to see the fruits of faith in sports in my own personal life, and it’s a really special tool that God can use.
And while sports aren’t innately a bad thing, they can very quickly become that way if we steward them wrongly.
Because human pride is commonly entangled in sports and you often hear the words me, myself and I.
It’s common for egos to get involved and when they do, they breed hate and sometimes even the belittling of others.
Sports can also become an idol that we put in the place of God in our lives, taking away from our relationship with Him.
Whether it’s as an athlete, coach or fan, when we tie our hope, emotional state or treatment of others to sports, it’s simply just wrong.
I bring this all up not to turn you away from sports, but to address something I’ve dealt with consistently in my life. As an athlete, I took pride and relied on what I could do, and as a fan, I’ve prioritized sports over God frequently in my heart, both of which God convicted me of.
Recently, I’ve been asking myself the question: am I more fired up about a game or the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Because of at the end of the day, only one of those things really matter.
And just like a lot of other things on this earth, there is nothing wrong with sports and in fact, they can be really good for all the reasons I listed, but when placed above God they can become sinful.
Faith in sports means always loving Jesus more than the sport. It means honoring Jesus with your actions in them no matter what capacity you are involved.
Sports aren’t meant to be a hinderance in our relationship with God, but a gift from Him that we’re called to steward well and glorify Him with.
If you’re anything like me, you certainly haven’t mastered living this out yet, and I’m not sure anyone ever will, but the least we can do is try and give it our all daily.