Bible 62

 I’ve felt uncomfortable praying in public, even though I’ve been asked to do so. But I’m learning to practice God’s presence by praying throughout the day with short prayers similar to what Nicky talks about. I’m hoping that a rhythm of prayer, or a natural habit will eventually become a reality. It’s hard to devote long stretches of time to prayer. Maybe I have a short attention span. But learning to be grateful with words, worshipping God for the beauty of creation, or for His protection have been helpful. Confessing my weaknesses, insecurities, or the uncertainty of the day get me in the mood to pray. Asking for wisdom and a peaceful attitude are daily reminders to depend on Him, not myself. I’m thinking that if we met Jesus for coffee, He would ask “Why don’t you talk to me throughout the day?”

Bible 61

 Just as much as many are blind to what Jesus accomplished on the cross for us, I’m often blind to His presence and His gentle nudge to trust Him. As you begin a busy season witb calving and so much more, I hope you find moments to appreciate the miracle of birth in your herd, as well as appreciate God’s strength in you as you manage your time. I think back to the many days of early morning chores, rushing to get ready for school, late night checking and middle of the night checks, I know I could not do it all now. But God is present through it all, even though we cannot control a lot of factors. We can only do what we can do. 

Jesus was overwhelmed with the demand of people wanting healed and taught, as well as knowing the suffering He would endure. He withdrew for prayer and solitude with the Father. May you find those moments of solitude as well. 

Isaac’s example

 Michael Sprague

Ever feel betrayed? Ever been overwhelmed and undone by a patently aggravating nemesis? I have. 

I was reading about Isaac’s challenges with his enemies in the desert during a famine. When the Philistines filled his wells with dirt, Isaac dug new wells. He named these two wells- ARGUMENT and OPPOSITION (Genesis 26:19-21). He later named his third well ROOM ENOUGH for the Lord made room for them (Genesis 26:22). Despite contentious opposition and troubling times, God blessed Isaac a hundredfold in the  desert in accordance with His promise (Genesis 26:12). 

Isaac didn’t deny the depth of his problems, but by keeping his eyes on God rather than on his enemy he found a  powerful way to respond. 

Most opt for fight or flight...uncontrolled anger or bottled up withdrawal...hysterics or pouting. Not Isaac...he found a third way. In fighting the dragon he didn’t become the dragon. He resisted the gateway drug of irritability that often leads to sarcasm, resentment and hostility. He jettisoned the stinking-thinking and made room for God’s Promises to prevail. 

We can all drink deeply from this well!!

Counseling Issues

 It bothers me that church goers who have experienced depression, drug use, faulty parenting, auicidal ideation, and traumatic marriages form a group to promote mental health in the church. It’s probably good to create more discussion of what can be done to provide a safe place for church goers to grow. It’s good to point people in the right direction (to professionals) to find the help that is needed. It’s not wise to create suspicion in the help that is being received. 

One impression I get is that this group of people have good intentions by creating more discussion, yet they seem to be promoting their ideas, not Chris. What bothers me more is an approach that defines the human spirit as emotions, logic, physical, and spiritual well being, with each being out of balance with each other. I’m not sure Scripture looks at our health and flourishing in that manner. 

CA Lewis said that no one has met a mere mortal. Eccles 3:11 states that each person has a vacuum in their heart that only God can fill  we are each searching for means and purpose that can only be met by following Christ, doing what He wants.  We are creates souls that inhabit a physical body, with emotions, thoughts, body chemistry, in a broken world.  Our mind and soul influence our brain’s decisions and emotions, our actions, character and purpose  

On the flip side, I met with Dan Young, 53, former student, third marriage, but changes by Christ. After 4 stays at Valley Hope for drug and alcohol use, he is now free of substance abuse and tobacco use. He praises God for what has happened, God’s grace has intervened. The journey began 4 years ago, and a motorcycle accident that should have killed him, represents God’s dramatic intervention. 

Soul is the essence of your being that brings together the beautiful mystery of who you are: your physical body, desires, thoughts, emotions, hopes, and passions. According to Dallas Willard, “The soul is that aspect of your whole being that correlates, integrates, and enlivens everything going on in the various dimensions of the self. It is the life-center of the human being.”5

“I pray that God, who gives peace, will make you completely holy. And may your spirit, soul, and body be kept healthy and faultless until our Lord Jesus Christ returns” (1 Thessalonians 5:23 CEV).

Soul integrates; sin disintegrates. Soul unites; sin divides. Sin is the unraveling of your soul’s intricate unity; it defiles, corrupts, and poisons. 

Our truest self is screaming for air, desperate to break through the surface of a shallow, hurried life and breathe deeply of God himself. To exhale failure and inhale grace. To come alive again.

Adrian - Matthew 16:24-25. Message - Jesus went to work on the disciples. If they want to follow, they need to follow His lead. Adrian - this is the antidote to self pity. 

Counseling may be necessary to overcome sin and suffering. But it must come under the leadership and authority of Jesus, denying ourselves and our distractions. 

"Be thankful for the thorns and thistles which keep you from being in love with this world." — Charles Spurgeon

Are we holding on to our struggles, afraid of what it will mean to ask for help or surrender to Christ?  Is our identity wrapped up in our struggle of in Christ?

Men are God’s method. The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.… What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use; men of prayer; men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men–men of prayer …

The training of the Twelve was the great, difficult and enduring work of Christ.… It is not great talents or great learning or great preachers that God needs, but men great in holiness, great in faith, great in love, great in fidelity, great for God–men always preaching by holy sermons in the pulpit, by holy lives out of it. These can mould a generation for God. - EM Bounds

Hope Has a Name 10

 The agony that Jesus experienced in the garden demonstrates His full humanity. He knows what it is to experience the worst that life can throw at us and shows His struggle of being alone to face death for all of us. Taking on all our sin on the cross has to be the heaviest of guilt, shame, and remorse. Yet He surrendered Himself to do what had been planned from the beginning. He surrendered His humanity to what the Divine plan was. May we follow pursuit, surrendering ourselves to Him in gratitude for what He did for us. 

“When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted friendship - when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us.” - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Live Hungry

 This type of hunger and thirst is in contrast with the pagans, who pursue the material world over the spiritual world (Matt. 6:33). So, what is the goal of their pursuit? Jesus calls it “righteousness”. Righteousness in the Bible has three aspects: legal, moral, and social. Legally, Christ-followers desire to be justified or to be right with God. Morally, Christ-followers desire right character and conduct that pleases God. Socially, Christ-followers seek to liberate others by exerting justice and being a witness for Christ in the greater world. The resulting promise is that “they will be filled” (vs. 6b), or “satisfied”. In other words, those who pursue righteousness will find their desire “fully satisfied” by God himself.

Something similar happens when Christ-followers begin to hunger and thirst for righteousness. When we come to Jesus to follow him as his disciple, we come with all our emotional baggage, self-indulgence, worldly awards, and egos intact. But quickly we understand that we must leave all of that at the door if we want to follow him. In fact, Jesus said, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Once we do that, responding to his grace by a response of faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), we embark on a life of being his disciple. It is then that we will begin to see that nothing else will satisfy us other than Jesus. Sure, there will be times of spiritual dryness, confusion, and even doubt, but that does not mean that God is absent. It simply means that we are in the process, in good times or bad, of being formed into the character of a kingdom disciple. As we do, the Holy Spirit will begin to allow us to see the spiritual hunger around us, which is God’s invitation for us to join him in helping meet that need.

So, some questions…

1. How hungry and thirsty are you for righteousness? Are you in a season of seeking or a season of doubt? Will you ask God to do a work in you and to give you a deep desire for him over all else? I love the Psalmist’s response to this. Psalm 42: 1-2, 5 says, “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God?… Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God.”

2. Are you being attentive to the spiritual hunger around you? Once you realize the need, are you taking steps to help meet the need? How might you start to invest in the lives of others so that they will grow toward spiritual maturity and find their full satisfaction in Jesus?

FOOTNOTES

1 “The Greatest Night in Pop”, Netflix, January 29, 2024.

This post originally appeared at: Live Hungry: The Pursuit of the Kingdom Life — The Bonhoeffer Project

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Resources

For further materials and training for discipleship, check out our new Disciple Making Culture 10 Minute E-Book

Interested in the current state of Discipleship in North American Churches? Check out our free resource: National Study on Disciple Making in USA Churches.

Bible 60

 There is no other source of wisdom that will match what the Bible says. It is mind blowing how we can read the same thing repeatedly yet gain something practical for each day’s situation out of the same passage if we are open to learn. It’s so easy to listen to today’s critics on most any issue and become negative  it’s almost like a vortex of sucking us into a down draft that never stops. But thankfully, we gain strength and encouragement from the timeless wisdom of Scripture.  Like Psalm 1 states, our roots are fed with the nutrients we need as we face the uncertainties and storms in life. 

Rick Warren sums it up with his comments: “…reading the Bible generates life, it produces change, it heals hurts, it builds character, it transforms circumstances, it imparts joy, it overcomes adversity, it defeats temptation, it infuses hope, it releases power, it cleanses the mind’.”

Questions by David Brooks

 What is the best way to grow old

What should I do with the rest of my life

What crossroads are you at

What would you do if you weren’t afraid

If you weee about to die tonight, what regrets would you have

If we met a year from now, what would we be celebrating

 if the next 5 years were a chapter in your life, what would that chapter be about

Are you able to be the person you want to be

Hope Has a Name 9

 Have you ever worried that you might deny that you are following Christ?  I used to think that I might deny Him if I weee out under extreme pressure. But how could I, considering His great love and grace. He has done so much and continues tk provide security in my chaotic moments. The dark times and the uncertainty I’ve experienced have proven to be the most intense times of His presence. My pride and arrogance that I have life under control are the times I’m denying my need for Him. 

“Never allow anything to divert you from your insight into Jesus Christ. It is the true test of whether you are spiritual or not. To be unspiritual means that other things have a growing fascination for you. Since mine eyes have looked on Jesus, I’ve lost sight of all beside, So enchained my spirit’s vision, Gazing on the Crucified.” - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Hope Has a Name 8

 The character of Judas is a huge contrast to Stephen in Acts 7. Stephen was so passionate to explain the Hebrew history to his listeners. The Passover was a huge event in history, pointing to Jesus as the sacrificial lamb. How could Judas neglect all that Jesus had taught, for selfish gain. I wonder how much I’ve neglected the gravity of what Jesus taught and accomplished as the sacrificial lamb. May we all be humbled as we approach our celebration of Easter, surrendering our self oriented ambitions to the One who sacrifices everything for us.  

“All God's revelations are sealed to us until they are opened to us by obedience. You will never get them open by philosophy or thinking. Immediately you obey, a flash of light comes. Let God's truth work in you by soaking in it, not by worrying into it. Obey God in the thing He is at present showing you, and instantly the next thing is opened up. We read tomes on the work of the Holy Spirit when... five minutes of drastic obedience would make things clear as a sunbeam. We say, "I suppose I shall understand these things some day." You can understand them now: it is not study that does it, but obedience. The tiniest fragment of obedience, and heaven opens up and the profoundest truths of God are yours straight away. God will never reveal more truth about Himself till you obey what you know already. Beware of being wise and prudent.” - Oswald Chambers

Bible 59

 Learning to have a child like faith in our trustworthy Father is the goal of following Christ. I’m constantly being reminded that my questions may have answers that include ‘no’ or ‘maybe’ or ‘not yet’ because I’m not ready for all the details. God is preparing us for eternity and if I get what I want right now, I won’t be prepared for what He has in store later. I’ve secretly wanted more fame and fortune but Jesus seems to always be calling us to have eyes wide olen to what He is doing in the ordinary moments, with those who are less fortunate than the average, or what what He is doing in unseen ways to put His agenda into motion. 

Hope Has a Name 7

 Mary gave her all to serve Jesus. She received criticism and the accusation of wasting resources.that could have been invested more wisely. On the other hand Judas looked for ways that he could get a good deal, oblivious to what he had witnessed and experiences in personal ways. I used to worry that I would deny Christ as Peter did, all the while I was figuring iur ways to elevate myself among others, looking for what I could get out of ‘serving’ or participating in a good project. The world does not understand or compliment living a radical life for Jesus. 

“Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing...Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation.” - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, 

Who Is This Jesus

 Michael Sprague

A lawyer asked me this basic question. If Jesus was ordinary, plain and unimpressive in his physical appearance...why did big burly fisherman leave their nets and follow him and business sharks in the marketplace leave their cash registers to follow him? Great Question.

My answer... Who is the real Jesus?

When it comes to the real Jesus … no one is more surprising, baffling, rattling, frustrating, astonishing and compelling.

He was born some 20 centuries ago to an impoverished couple in an obscure part of the planet. He never traveled outside his region. He didn’t write a book. He didn’t have a home. The Romans didn’t consider him significant enough to record his execution in their records. Jesus stepped into a world with a rigid religious establishment, a pagan empire and political parties of all stripes. Normally at odds with each other, these powers conspired to literally take Jesus out.

Jesus had no political base. No army. No resources. No voting bloc. No motorcade or secret service. No spin. No swords. His only weapons were a serving towel, a blood stained cross, an empty tomb, a bunch of scars and a handful of insignificant ragamuffins who didn’t start out too hot but ended up out-praying, out-thinking, out-serving and out-living everyone and turned the world upside down.

Jesus befuddled everyone in not fighting but giving up his life. He didn’t get all bent out of shape every election cycle. He prayed more than he talked about praying. He built bridges rather than throw rocks. He blessed more than cursed. Love him or hate him… the truth is you can never be the same after an encounter with Jesus.

Jesus had the nerve to hang out with the wrong crowd and sketchy people…the lost, the lame, the irreligious and misfits flocked to him. He blew people away by saying that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of Heaven ahead of the religious leaders. Oh how he could tick off powerful people and the respectable folks always seemed threatened by him. Jesus didn’t play by the rules… that is religious rules. In fact he was the enemy of dead religion.

Jesus' teaching drove people crazy. Think about it. He was always saying upside down stuff. If you want to find your life, you must lose it. If you want to live you must die. Love your enemies. Up is down and down is up. Bear your cross and serve instead of be served. You couldn’t help but scratch your head…yet it seemed so life-giving.

His scandalous message is that the Shalom of God is available to every human being through him. Amazing Grace is available to all. He didn’t come to start a religion but to build a relationship. He offers the Grace Plan, not the Human Performance Plan. Jesus did for us what we could never do for ourselves. He is none other than the sin-substitute, the Savior and the hope of mankind. His invitation is, “Follow me.” 

I hope to inspire people of all backgrounds to consider, wonder, dialogue about and know the person, life and teaching of Jesus.

Expensive Love

 A key element of survival is to know who you can count on to help you stay alive. The reverse is equally important: who is not trustworthy? Deep within our human psyche, we have a “homing device” that detects enemies. It works well, with both speed and precision, when we’re in the wilderness worrying about a mama bear intent on protecting her cub.

The same system helps us when we’re in a social setting, worrying about protecting ourselves from a bully or an abusive individual. The challenge comes when we use this system to determine the boundaries of who we allow into our hearts and who we don’t; who we choose to love and who doesn’t deserve our love. I say “a problem” because we tend to love only those who love us, something that Jesus seriously opposed.

In the words of Skye Jethani, “The narcissist loves only himself. The nationalist loves only his tribe. The activist loves only his cause. The idealist loves only his thoughts. The humanist loves only his concept of humanity. The Christian loves the irritating person right in front of him.”

“You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. - Matthew 5:43-48

Jesus meant it when He called us to love our enemy. That kind of love shocks us.

We consider that kind of love too expensive, and in fact, it is expensive. To love our enemy is to seek their best interest above our own (Philippians 2:3-11). Such a love shows someone favor, devoid of any positive response, romance, emotional gain, or relational benefit. But this kind of love was exactly the kind Jesus showed us when we were still sinners.

We know God loves the evil person, because “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and send rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45 NIV) He loves the person who does not love Him. He loves first (1 John 4:19). He does not withhold His love from His Creation and is generous with that love.

Since God alone knows the heart, He has the ability to justly determine who is evil and who is not—yet He chooses to love both.

Jesus insists there are serious implications for those who love only those who love them back. They already have received, on Earth, all the reward they will ever get. But loving our enemies brings a much greater reward, “that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:45).

To love our enemy requires us to be on the side of people, no matter what they do in return. We are to seek their best interests, even when they provoke us to dislike them. We are to love, even if we do not receive the apology or approval that we deserve. We are to do good, simply because Jesus calls us to do good. This type of love is costly.

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This article is an excerpt from The Image of God, a Bible study from Ines Franklin and Steve Bang Lee. 

Bible 58

 I’m re-learning the fact that we can never exhaust our study of the Creator, nor will we have complete answers to the most perplexing questions. God is God and I’m not. I’ve spent far too much time minimizing how great He is and reduces my need to worship Him to a few seconds of prayer or by checking the box of good deeds once in a while. The first few sentences of Nicky’s comments jumped out at me: 

“God cannot fit into our plans, we must fit into his,’ writes Eugene Peterson. ‘We can’t use God – God is not a tool or appliance or credit card.”

I’m praying that our live will be marked by love, tolerance, discipline, peace, and faithfulness. The more I grasp His faithfulness, the more faith filled I will be. A holy life is seeking to do what Jesus would do in my situations, rather than trying to promote my importance. I have a long way to go. 

Hope Has a Name 6

 Finding faithful friends is a God led experience. Being a faithful friend also is an experience of allowing God to lead in knowing what to say and when to be present. A deeper experience is discovering how deep our Father’s faithfulness really is. Every challenge we face is met with His grace and mercy. The Holy Spirit's presence is a sure foundation as we dive deep into God’s word for wisdom. 

“We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle.” - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Hope Has a Name 5

 I used to think that if I believed the right stuff and didn’t do much wrong, I’d have fewer problems than the next guy. There may be some truth to that, but I don’t think that theory is in the Bible. So many characters in the Bible experiences trouble, predicaments and conflict. They weee flawed individuals living among others with flaws. There re no guarantees for green lights, olen doors, parking spaces, great health, and agreeable people surrounding us. But He invites us into a relationship by surrendering everything to Him. He is gentle and walks with us, carrying our burdens with us.  We do not know the outcome of our issues, but we know the One who has open arms, inviting us to Himself  

“Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to "go out" in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to "go out" through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.” - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Bible 57

 I’m guessing a lot of us would like to achieve fame and fortune, thinking that our anxieties about the future would be far less. But the Scriptures do not even hint that being famous is a good thing. Building encouraging relationships that last have building blocks that include humility, service, grace, mercy and a desire to be honest with everyone. Today’s power hungry seem to manipulate whoever and whatever, twisting facts to fit the marketing scheme. Even though king David was famous, he realized that God has appointed him to his position. David has humble roots and has learned a great deal from his outdoor experiences as a shepherd. I wonder what Jesus would say about our celebrity culture. What would the disciples say about our culture?  I wonder what Jesus would say to me if we had a face to face, eye to eye conversation. I’m hoping and praying that we will give God credit for all we do as we develop a better eternal perspective. 

God Raises Up kids

 Don’t feel sorry for or fear for your kids/grandkids because the world they are going to grow up in is not what it used to be.

God created them and called them for the exact moment in time that they’re in. Their life wasn’t a coincidence or an accident.

Raise them up to know the power they walk in as children of God.

Train them up in the authority of His Word.

Teach them to walk in faith knowing that God is in control.

Empower them to know they can change the world.

Don’t teach them to be fearful and disheartened by the state of the world but hopeful that they can do something about it.

Every person in all of history has been placed in the time that they were in because of God’s sovereign plan.

He knew Daniel could handle the lions den. 

He knew David could handle Goliath.

He knew Esther could handle Haman.

He knew Peter could handle persecution.

He knows that your child can handle whatever challenge they face in their life. He created them specifically for it!

Don’t be scared for your children, but be honored that God chose YOU to parent the generation that is facing the biggest challenges of our lifetime.

Rise up to the challenge.

Raise Daniels, Davids, Esthers and Peters!

God isn’t scratching His head wondering what He’s going to do with this mess of a world.

He has an army He’s raising up to drive back the darkness and make Him known all over the earth.

Don’t let your fear steal the greatness God placed in them. I know it’s hard to imagine them as anything besides our sweet little babies, and we just want to protect them from anything that could ever be hard on them, but they were born for such a time as this.

~Alex Cravens

#CarryTheLight

Hope Has a Name 4

 I’m not sure that I’ve experienced consistent holy places. Holy moments have happened in hospital rooms, in a coffee shop with a friend, in a prison while visiting someone, or in a counseling office. A holy moment even Halle we in a prayer call via zoom. Perhaps that is called a holy space for sure. Perhaps those moments have been glimpses into what Moses experiences or what Stephen was saying in his sermon. It’s mind blowing that the Creator God humbles Himself to live in a tent among the He dews, in a tabernacle where the priests entered, or in the temple built by Solomon. But the Spirit resides in us after we have experienced the resurrection miracle in our hearts. 

“The "show business," which is so incorporated into our view of Christian work today, has caused us to drift far from Our Lord's conception of discipleship. It is instilled in us to think that we have to do exceptional things for God; we have not. We have to be exceptional in ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, surrounded by sordid sinners. That is not learned in five minutes.” - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Mental Health Training

 there are some mental health first aid courses available in central Nebraska. According to the web search results, you can find them at:

• National Safety Council, Nebraska12, which offers Mental Health First Aid courses for adults and youth, teaching participants how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges. You can register online or call (402) 476-7272 for more information.
• NAMI Nebraska3, which offers no-cost mental health services, including support groups, education programs, and advocacy. You can visit their website or call (402) 345-8101 for more information.
• Mental and Behavioral Health, Inc.4, which has licensed therapists that are trained to deal with a variety of mental health issues. You can visit their website or call (402) 564-9888 for more information.

I hope this information is helpful to you. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask me. 😊

Athletics / Faith

 I grew up on grass and turf. What did kindergarten-me want to be? A professional soccer player. Where did I spend most evenings as a teen? My club’s soccer complex. How did I choose a college? Division I soccer or bust.

Eventually, my left knee would be the one to bust (twice), but not until I’d devoted nearly twenty years to the game. Looking back on the cotton-tee rec leagues, the pricey club seasons, the long-awaited college career, the coveted national team camps — I see, sharp as a whistle, how God used soccer to increase my wonder of him. But what I also recognize (more painfully than two ACL tears) is how little I guarded myself against sins common to sport.

For every chance to worship God through exercise and competition, there is just as great a risk that we will “love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15). Surely, sports can inspire worship. But often even more so, they can divert our hearts from heaven, casting them instead onto the fleeting rewards of fitness or fame.

Whether you’re young and yet to blow out a knee, a backward-looking athlete like me, or the person who simply loves sports, let’s wonder together at the God enthroned above every beautiful game. And let’s beware together the dangers lurking behind all the practices and tournaments, the social media feeds and TV screens.

Embracing Frailty

We live in an era of “easy everywhere,” as Andy Crouch puts it in The Tech-Wise Family. At the flex of a foot, we can travel from Connecticut to California by car. Our thumbs wiggle, and a friend in the Netherlands instantly knows how we are. Press a button, turn a knob, and lights flicker, water spouts, food warms, pictures snap, books play, music stops, presidents speak, gifts and ambulances and flowers and repairmen arrive. Everywhere we look, life is easy.

Because we can accomplish much while moving little, we tend to see ourselves as masters over matter, rather than creatures under a Creator. The ease with which so many exist can obscure our need to receive “life and breath and everything” from the God who first made and now upholds us (Acts 17:25).

But there is something about dripping sweat and feeling faint, leg muscles refusing to move much faster than a brisk jog, that pushes us to acknowledge our dependence on something outside ourselves. Whether it’s water or electrolytes, a quick banana or half a pizza, fifteen minutes of ice or ten hours of sleep, a teammate or a surgeon, sports make us feel the kind of needy we always are.

Mindful Christians can turn the likes of wind sprints and long recoveries into opportunities for spiritual humility, as we remember that we are weak because we are creaturely — and created to submit our bodies, hearts, and lives to our Creator.

Searching for Fool’s Gold

Unfortunately, sports often rush us headlong in the opposite direction, tempting us to worship “the creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25). When we watch LeBron James dunk, we may be more likely to exclaim, “He’s a basketball god!” than “How awesome is the God who made such an athlete!”

“Christian athletes fight an uphill battle to satisfy themselves in God alone, to pursue his glory alone.”

And that’s just the way the sports world would have it. College programs, ESPN, betting apps — what is “the glory of the immortal God” to them (Romans 1:23)? Usually, nothing more than a detour from the track on which they run: the worship of “mortal man.” As we engage with sports, we would be naive to think that they won’t make unending grabs for our gaze, our hearts, even our very persons, as “followers of [select one of a million players, teams, or leagues].”

The danger isn’t confined to leagues we stream on TV. Sports tempt us to worship ourselves alongside the games and elite athletes who play them. Because of the fall, anywhere we set foot, our sinful flesh starts digging for the fool’s gold of human glory. The rec center’s basketball court is no exception. Sports, whatever the scale, can stoke our millennia-old longing to sparkle in others’ eyes.

In my experience, athletes crave all kinds of self-exalting glitter. There’s physical dominance, which men tend toward, and then there’s physical perfection, more of a female problem. As we mold our bodies into one ideal appearance or another, we simultaneously wield them for other worldly ends, like winning for winning’s sake and success for man’s approval.

Immersed in an arena that not only values but requires physical fitness, Christians can be tempted to care more for the body than the heart — a mistake so common that God would issue a warning as early as three thousand years ago (1 Samuel 16:7). Centuries later, he would remind us again through Paul, “While bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8).

Along with the body, sports culture obsesses over here-and-now victory and applause. Christian athletes fight an uphill battle to satisfy themselves in God alone, to pursue his glory alone, to seek his kingdom alone, and to believe his word above every other: “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave” (Matthew 20:26–27).

Grasping the Unseen

While sports can distract us from spiritual realities, they can also expose them. Throughout his letters, Paul uses athletic imagery to illuminate unseen, eternal truths (2 Corinthians 4:18).

For example, in 1 Corinthians 9:24 Paul asks, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it [that is, eternal life].” When I read passages like this, I thank God for athletic competition. In the golden age of participation certificates and star-shaped stickers, we hear time and again that there’s no such thing as not reaching our potential. There are no losers, only people doing their best to be themselves (which, of course, they’ll succeed at being, what with no external standard to reach).

But as Paul reminds us, the Christian life is not the free 5k we like to know about but never run. No, the Christian life is the Pikes Peak Ascent, the Boston Marathon, the Summer Olympics. Meaning: to finish, we must run. And not only run but train, disciplining ourselves “that by any means possible [we] may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:11). As J.C. Ryle puts it,

It would not be difficult to point out at least twenty-five or thirty distinct passages in the epistles where believers are plainly taught to use active personal exertion, and are addressed as responsible for doing energetically what Christ would have them do, and are not told to “yield themselves” up as passive agents and sit still, but to arise and work. A holy violence, a conflict, a warfare, a fight, a soldier’s life, a wrestling, are spoken of as characteristic of the true Christian. (Holiness, xxiii–xxiv)

To say with Paul, “I press on to make [eternal life] my own” (Philippians 3:12) doesn’t mean that eternal life is earned. This life is graciously given. Even still, that does not make it a given. Like the most serious of runners, Christians race heavenward — Bibles in our hands, prayer on our lips, church by our side — because we know that fervent, frequent Godward movement confirms that he has already obtained us: “I press on to make [eternal life] my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

How remarkable that we might perceive grace and faith more clearly, simply because Paul reminds us “that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Some unseen things shimmer better when we sweat.

Competing Ends

Yes, we do well to look and move heavenward through our beloved tracks and fields. But as we do, we should again remember that athletics may actively hinder our ability to live like Christians. The players we watch aren’t pastors. Many coaches we play for don’t pray. By and large, sports culture is thoroughly, proudly, and profitably secular.

Which means it operates under its own moral code: win, usually at any cost. As believers who play or follow sports, we can struggle to resist the pressure to prioritize first place above honoring God and his word.

Imagine it’s the last five minutes of a tie game. Whether playing or watching, most unbelieving coaches, teammates, and fans want you to do or say whatever you can to get the win — even if it means disobeying God. We know he not only commands slowness to anger and self-control, but he also commends them as more rewarding than strength and success (Proverbs 16:32). Still, there’s a game on the line. So, from overly aggressive fouls to jeering at refs, as long as the behavior helps to take the win by might, your team and fans will likely applaud. After all, you’re just being competitive.

Oh, what Christians might communicate instead. What if we walked away without retaliating, faced defeat with calm and even contentment, and experienced sports as a gift meant to reveal the Giver? In doing so, we would express how incomparably pleasing it is to belong to God, not the game.

At their best, sports are an exercise in worship and witness. We have only to believe that Jesus is worthy in every loss and worth more than every victory (Philippians 3:8), and then train and play and watch and cheer like it.

Tanner Swanson works from home as a wife, mother, and editor. She and her husband, T.J., live in Denver, Colorado, with their sons.