Nov
12
2007
Competing to the Glory of God
Fathering two very athletic and competitive boys can be challenging (as some of you well know). The passion to win, at times, seems to overpower every other sensibility. So when I play basketball or football with Gabe and Nate I’m always aware of my responsibility to “coach” them with regard to the way they conduct themselves on the field (or court): don’t get cocky, don’t showboat, don’t taunt your opponent, encourage your teammates, play hard but be humble, etc. I really want them to understand that being a Christian effects the way one approaches competition.
Nowhere does the Bible say that the Christian faith is private and partial. On the contrary, the Christian faith is public and pervasive. In other words our faith ought to inform every arena of life. Since we are to “take every thought captive to Christ” we must learn to think Christianly about everything: sex, money, politics, art, entertainment, sports, vocation, etc. We must learn to engage every arena of our culture, every sector of our society, in a uniquely Christian way, for as Abraham Kuyper aptly put it, “There is no square inch of creation in which Christ does not say, ‘It is mine.’” Therefore, we must have “a theology” about every thing under the sun. Seriously! God requires that from us.
I think you’ll find this article by Frank Reich very helpful and distinctively stimulating (that’s right football fans, I said Frank Reich. Remember him? Backup quarterback for the Buffalo Bills? He led the Buffalo Bills back from a 30 point deficit in a divisional playoff game against the Houston Oilers back in 1992. He then led the Bills to the Super Bowl that year where they got trounced by none other than my beloved Dallas Cowboys, 52-10. Poor Frank. He’s now a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary and a pastor in South Carolina.) Frank discusses how the passion to compete is a passion that God has given all of us. It ought, therefore, not to be suppressed but harnessed for the glory of God. This little article convinced me to stop saying to Gabe and Nate, “Winning doesn’t matter.” In God’s economy winning does matter. Read the article to see what I mean.