There is a way to be an elite athlete and love God. I am going to go as far to argue on this blog-site that the Christian athlete actually shows their love to God (loves Him) by exactly becoming the best they can be at their given sport. Even further, I’m going to contend that when an athlete seeks to become “the best they can be” (in a Christian fashion) at their sport they come to know and experience God more deeply. It’s going to take numerous posts for me to reveal and support the truth of these assertions. I am going to weave together biblical passages, theology, personal testimonies, and prayer to hopefully confirm you the athlete in your pursuit of God and excellence in your sport. At times it’s going to necessitate you to do some mental work, while at other times it’s going to require you to do spiritual work as well as some soul searching. Remember, most things that are worthwhile do not come easy. So I ask you to stick with me, especially through the biblical and theological posts; they are foundational to what we believe and thus how we live. It’s time to put on your thinking cap and do a little theology. Here, I’m seeking to restate what I said in the 1st post, “Thinking about the Fundamentals”, but this time in more biblical and theological language.
To understand the full scope of God’s intention for us human beings and the world we must consider why God created the world and us in the first place. Out of God’s boundless riches creation was brought forth out of nothing to participate in and reveal God’s being through its beauty, diversity and varied dimensions. Furthermore, the world was created to house the crown of God’s creation, “Man”, and be the medium through which human beings come to know and participate in God’s inner-trinitarian life. As for “Man”, the Fathers of the church contended and explained that to be created in the “image” of God does not merely set us apart as rational beings from all other created things, but fundamentally constitutes us as relational beings. To be made in the image of God is made in the image of the Trinity, which orients us toward communion with God and other human beings. In other words, to be truly human is to live in communion with God and others. “Image” implies our necessity and thirst for God. St Augustine captured this reality well when He said; “My soul was restless until it found rest in You”.
Why did God create the world, and especially us humans beings? Simply stated, so that we might become partakers of his divine life. The truth of this assertion is most fully revealed in the advent of Jesus Christ. Irenaeus, the 2nd century church father, summed it up best when he stated, “In his unbounded love, He was made what we are, that He might make us to be what he is”.[i] Through Jesus Christ we come to more fully understand God’s motive and purpose for creation. God’s motive for creation was his goodness and love. And the early church fathers emphasized this fact over against the idea that God had some inner necessity to do so, as if God was alone and in need of some companion to make himself complete or satisfied. Rather, they contended that God, who is in need of nothing and is perfectly sufficient and satisfied within Himself, created freely out of the overflow of his love and goodness. Peter writes,
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1: 3-4)
The purpose of this creation, and especially human beings, was so that they would become participants in his divine life.
Through Jesus Christ humanity becomes a partaker of divine life. More specially, “through the Incarnation, Christ raised up the divine image in man to its fully actual state, that is, to the full communion that it is able to with God and with human beings”.[ii] Here we come to understand the emphasis in Christian thought that Jesus was “fully God” and “fully man”. Only God can “save”, thus Christ our Savior must be God. And only if Christ is human does salvation reach the point of human need. He takes into himself what is ours and in exchange he gives us what is His own (2 Cor. 8:9). Salvation is not so much making “amends” as it is ”mending”. In Jesus Christ, humanity is restored and perfected through the Incarnation (deifying communion). Kallistos Ware explains, “Salvation is nothing less than an all-embracing transformation of our humanness. To be saved is to share with all fullness of human nature in the power, joy and glory of God”.[iii] Otherwise stated, Jesus Christ raises “humanity” to the level of participation in the Trinity, and through the Spirit our humanity can be and is raised as well. We actualize this “mending” through faith in Jesus Christ by the Spirit who communicates God’s divine life to us.
God creates “all things” out of his goodness and love so that all things might share in that love. The purpose then for “all things” is that they might reach full participation in this love. This gives created things a distinct meaning – “matter matters”. Not only in Jesus is humanity redeemed, but also all creation is set aright toward this goal or purpose. In the Christian scheme of things, creation can be a medium through which we commune with God. In other words, we live into this salvation, we become who we are meant to be, by seeking more and more to participate and advance in this communion with God. One of the ways this comes about is through our involvement, progress and grasp of created things. Humans are called to grow in communion with God by “exercising spiritual rule over the world, by transfiguring it, by exercising their capacity to see the world and make it a medium transparent”[iv] that radiates the goodness and glory of God. Thus, it is in and through the created things of the world, like sports, that we have the opportunity to seek to grow and advance into fuller communion with God.