Give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:12-14
If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4
I ended the last post stating, “Everything is different for the athlete that places his faith in Jesus Christ.” And then I went on to expound a little on this “difference” in saying, “The Christian doesn’t play for the glory of the game; they play simply because they love it. Their identity is not wrapped up in their performance, for they know themselves as a child of God. They compete to win, for that is the nature of a game, but they compete for something even greater, they compete to win God. The Christian athlete seeks through their practice and play to encounter the living God, and this becomes a real possibility when the athlete practices and plays in faith – belief, trust, love, hope.”
In this post, I want consider this idea that for the Christian athlete “everything is different”. The Christian and non-Christian play by the same the rules; they are bound by the same natural laws and seek to tap into the same “mechanical advantages”. They share similar strategies and ideas, as well as, compete with the same effort and intensity. From an outward appearance it may be very difficult to detect the “difference” of the Christian. The Christian like the non-Christian wins and loses, performs well at times and plays poorly on other occasions. Being a Christian does not guarantee success, that is, success understood as “being on top” or “better than”. So what is this “difference” that I speak of? The Christian approaches and plays the game from different mindset (state of being) – one that leads to a different experience.
One of the challenges in being Christian is learning (re-learning) to see, hear, taste, feel, think, hope – experience – life (sports) in Christ. The truth is that we approach most of our lives in same vain as the non- Christian. The goals we set, the things that we value, the way we view ourselves (and others) are too often determined by our culture and our own selfish desires rather than Christ. (I think this is particularly true with sports, and in attempt to make it more Christian we simply apply hash-tags to make us feel better. I don’t know how many times I have seen on bats and cleats of players Phil 4:13 (“I can do all things through Christ…”). What are we talking about here? Is it same thing that Paul was intending when he penned those words?) The “difference” for the Christian is seldom experienced, because we rarely live Christianly. With allusions to baptism, these verses from Colossians highlight the “difference” of the Christian. The Christian is the one that has been “delivered” and “transferred” into a new realm, a kingdom with different values, goals and ethics. So St. Paul encourages us to “set our minds on things that are above”. Here, he is not talking about angels and golden streets; no, he is challenging us to see, think, feel – experience – life in light of the reality of Christ. For the Christian, Christ alone is the determining factor for our existence (For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory).
Through previous post I have sought to provide a (theological) framework for Christian living (existence). The Christian is the one that seeks to live in response to God and His gifts by offering back to God in thanksgiving through faith that which God has given him (any other approach is sinful). Living this life of thanksgiving is the way of communion with God. Consciously seeking to order our lives in this fashion is our first step. The Christian Athlete responds to the gifts of God and lives into this Gift by offering back to God all that s/he is and all it takes to become the best s/he can be at their sport. In conjunction with this first step, we are going to need to deconstruct a great deal of the way in which we approach and think about the world and our sport. If we truly want to live Christianly we should begin with a self-evaluation. We will need to ask ourselves some difficult questions: Why do I play? Who do I play for? What are my ultimate goals? In so doing, we will identify those ways of being an athlete that are not Christian. This twofold task of “putting on” (Set your minds on things that are above) and “putting off” (not on things that are on earth) will be a daily endeavor and one that we will continuously engage in throughout our life. Remember, the goal of the human existence is communion with God (and in God with one another). God has given sports (and all of life) as means through which to live more deeply into that life with Him.