Wednesday, March 12, 2008

What is the focus of your life?

Is the focus of your life making the team? winning a state championship? getting into college? popularity? friends? money? girls/boys?

The scripture says that the focus of your life should be Christ. Pursue Him first. Christ is the only thing that will not disappoint you. Everything else is incapable of fulfilling you and will someday come to an end. Christ offers hope that is forever. He is the one thing that will satisfy your soul.

Let me encourage you to play your sport and live your life with an eternal perspective. This means you are constantly evaluating the things in your life and asking the question, "Does this matter in eternity?"

Pursuing a state championship is not bad, nor is working hard to receive a scholarship. Those are both great things to shoot for, but they should never be your primary goal or focus. Fix your eyes on Christ and pursue His prize. The state championships and scholarships may just come, but your hope is not wrapped up in being satisfied by such things.

Playing with an eternal perspective means, at the end of the day, what happened on the field mattered in eternity. What does this look like? You can dedicate every play to Jesus, striving to be excellent because you know He is watching and He wants you to play excellent. Win or lose, you can glorify God while you compete like a champion, play with integrity, and lead courageously. At the end of the game you can be confident that your dedication to glorifying God on that field has honored your Father in Heaven and has earned you eternal rewards in Heaven.

I believe you will find your athletic experience more enjoyable when God gives you real joy in the midst of your competition!


"One thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13-14

"Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

"fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before
Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2

"These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and {that} your joy may be made full." John 15:11