Why do you play sports?
Editor’s note: I recently spoke to a group of awesome sixth-through-eighth-grade students, who are involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, at Jonesborough Elementary School. This is a general recap of what I shared with them.
One of the things in life that is easy to take for granted is the ability to participate in sports.
Why do you play sports?
One of the reasons you play sports is because you have the God-given ability. Please think about that for a minute. In football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, track, tennis … you have to be able to do what?
Run.
How did you get the ability to run? Did you wake up one morning, get out of bed, look at your legs, and say, ‘Run.’ And from that moment on, you could run?
Psalm 139:13-14 says, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.”
You got the ability to run when God knit you together in your mother’s womb. He gave you tendons, cartilage, muscles, bones, lungs, and a heart. All of these things work in unison, according to the way God made you. He also gave you good health to play sports.
Not everybody is given good enough health to play sports.
What else do you need?
Think. Reason.
You have to be able to understand the rules and function within those rules to be successful in sports. For example, let’s say you’re fast and want to play football. The coaches put you at wide receiver. If you take off running before the ball is snapped, the officials will call a penalty. You have to be able to understand the rules and compete within them, or you won’t get to play.
Not everybody is blessed with enough thought and reasoning to successfully play certain sports.
What else?
Discipline.
You have to display enough discipline and make good enough grades, or the school won’t let you play. You also need anger discipline. If you’re playing basketball and the opponent steals the ball from you, and you punch them in the stomach, the school won’t let you play. You have to control your emotions, which takes discipline.
Not everybody is raised by parents or guardians in a way that helps them develop enough discipline to play organized sports.
What else?
Transportation.
You need transportation to get to the games. That’s something you might take for granted. But if your car breaks down on the way to the game, you won’t get to play unless you find another form of transportation to get there in time.
Not everybody has reliable transportation to get to practices and games, and they might fall out of sports because of it.
Run. Think. Reason. Discipline. Transportation.
These are just some of the things you need to play sports.
But what if you wanted to play sports, but couldn’t run? What if you wanted to play sports, but didn’t have the mental capacity to think quickly on your feet?
Have you ever heard of unified sports? These sports join people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team. Unified sports came about from a simple principle: Training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding.
What if you desperately wanted to be on a team, but never had the ability? And what if nobody organized games for you, so you could be on a team? Intellectually disabled students faced that situation before things like Special Olympics, which started in 1968, and Unified Sports, which began in 1989. Before those organizations formed, some kids never had a chance to be on a real team.
Think about all of the things you’ve learned about playing sports, teamwork, and friendship, and how that has molded you into the person you are now. Now imagine you never had those opportunities. How different would your life be?
Going back to Psalm 139:14, we can see in our world that God didn’t knit everybody together in the same way. To some, he gave fast legs and sharp minds. To others, he gave slow feet and less effective minds. And then God taught us, through Scripture, to consider the importance of helping those who have less. In Matthew 25:43-45, Jesus said,
“I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ”
You may hear that and think it doesn’t concern sports. But do you think Jesus expected us to feed, clothe, give medicine to, and visit those in need — and then go about using the athletic gifts God gave us while ignoring those without such gifts? Can you see that “the least of these” can apply to anyone with less in any number of different life experiences?
Is there anything you need, as a Christian, to play sports?
First, what does it mean to be a Christian? Does it mean you go to church? It’s more than that. To be a Christian means you are a follower of Christ. It means you have accepted him as your Lord and Savior. It means you have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in your heart that God raised him from the dead.
For a Christian to play sports, you need all of the things we’ve mentioned: Run, think, reason, discipline, and transportation. But you need something else to compete as a Christian.
What is it?
You need to look at sports from a Christian perspective. Does this mean you need to preach a sermon instead of running a play the coach taught you? No.
Competing as a Christian doesn’t mean constant verbal proclamation of Jesus Christ. It means constantly showing the love of Christ. It’s the act of loving your neighbor as yourself. This is something you can do in every situation, in sports or life.
Let’s look a little deeper into sports
All sports have a vehicle, a method of getting from one place to a more desired place.
Vehicles
Football — The football, the play call, the execution
Basketball — The basketball, the dribble, the pass, the shot
Destination
Football — The end zone
Basketball — The basket
Team vehicle
Working together
So what is the team destination?
Team destination
Winning
So the destination of every game played is winning (that’s the only thing that makes it a competition). The best way to win is to play by the rules. It’s not the only way. But it is the only true way. Why? Because if you “win” by breaking the rules, you don’t experience real victory. The game is only the game if you play by the rules.
An example: What if every time you scored a touchdown, your team grabbed the ball and ran to the other end of the field? Your offense lined up and started running plays again. You certainly wouldn’t lose if the other team never got the ball. But you wouldn’t win because the rules of football say both teams get to possess it. Plus, the officials would get irritated at you.
Why do you play sports? Part II
— Develop self-esteem and confidence
— Learn life skills like goal setting and time management
— Learn about teamwork, cooperation, and communication
— Feel a sense of community
— Respect coaches and teammates
— Fun (trying your best, playing together, getting along with like-minded others)
Is the team more important than the individual? There’s no I in team, right?
But the Bible says something remarkable. It’s in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus taught a variety of subjects about the Christian life, discipleship, and life in the kingdom of God. This sermon ranks among the most well-known and beloved passages of Scripture. Portions of its content are famous even outside of the church.
Toward the early part of this sermon, which begins in Matthew 5, Jesus talks about light. In verses, 14-16, Jesus said,
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Where do we perform this Christian function? Surely we don’t do it in the middle of a heated football or basketball game, right? Actually, yes.
Some people think it’s OK to let emotions rule in the heat of the moment. Coaches might curse, players may fight, and maybe the coach encourages a player to break a rule in the hope the referee won’t catch it. But after the game, gather with the other team and pray. That means you played like a Christian, right? And maybe the next day in school, or the upcoming weekend in church, you let your light shine?
But the Bible says our light should always be shining. The Greek construction in Matthew 5:16 conveys the idea of urgency. Shining is not optional, it’s of the utmost importance, and it needs to be continual.
Don’t get me wrong. In all the wisdom I’ve gained, I still haven’t figured out how to let my light shine 24-7. I’ve messed up so many times it’s almost exhausting the number of prayers where I’ve had to ask the Lord for forgiveness.
But I know what it’s like to live a long stretch of life not knowing the importance of Matthew 5:16 and how it relates to sports. When you’re at the heart of athletic struggle, and giving your all for your team, and something happens that gives you an opportunity to let your light shine, do you shine? Or do you turn off your spiritual flashlight? If you take the latter road, remember this: That may be the only opportunity you will ever have to shine a light for that person.
And even worse, what if that person never got another opportunity — from anyone — to see the light of Jesus?
If you are a true follower of Christ, there’s no shrinking away from Matthew 5:16. Always look for ways to let your light shine. Here are what a few famous pastors said,
Charles Spurgeon
“I would not give much for your religion unless it can be seen. Lamps do not talk, but they do shine.”
John Piper
"This is not an admonition to do God a favor. It is a command to align our lives with His eternal goal. He created us for His glory. God’s great aim in creating and governing the world is that He be glorified.”
Alistair Begg
“If you can’t shine, at least twinkle.”
And that’s my encouragement to each of you. In line with Begg’s words, you don’t have to be the sun. You don’t have to be so bright for Jesus that people have to hide their eyes. If you’ve never let your light shine before, start with a twinkle.