By Jessi Giles, FCA Northland Administrative Assistant
As an athlete, I always had to have that one thing. If I could just make the starting lineup. If I could just make the all-conference team. If I could just break that one record. If I could just do this, then I’ll be happy. Then I’ll have made it.
The problem with that? As soon as I accomplished that goal, there was always another one looming. Another award to chase. Another trophy to win.
For a long time, these were the types of things I chased. Records, recognitions and rewards. I got a lot of them too, but they never did what I thought they were going to do.
I thought that my identity came from being an athlete. I thought my self-worth was defined by how many games I won or how many points I scored. But even in the highest of highs – cutting down championship nets and breaking records – I was always left thinking, Is this it?
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:24-26, “Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize. Now everyone who competes exercises for self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown. So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air.”
I was running hard and throwing my hardest right hook without realizing I was actually running in circles and fighting the air. I was winning crowns without realizing that they were perishing on my head. I was disciplined in my training, but for all the wrong reasons. I asked myself these questions: What can these awards do for me? How can I use my sport to bring recognition to myself?
But the question I should have been asking was, How can I use my sport to help others? Or more importantly, how can I use my sport to glorify God?
-FCA-
Read more to recognize how to use your sport to glorify God.