Today I conclude my series of posts in answer to the questions: Why and how should a Christian pursue athletic greatness? Or, as a Christian, how can I justify my drive to become the best athlete I can be? (If you haven’t been following along, you can follow my outline here.)

I said at the beginning of this series that I could probably blog on this topic for a year. After covering these these points, I cannot help but reassert such a statement. For although this series comprises 13 posts, I have only begun to scratch the surface of what I could say. That being said, it has gone on long enough for now. So here we conclude with a final post on point number six.

Again, point six is this: A Christian should joyfully pursue athletic greatness with utmost diligence and utmost humility.

Regarding ‘utmost humility’ we said:

a) If we are seeing clearly, we will recognize that the entirety of our pursuit is a gift.

b) If we are seeing clearly, we will recognize that it is a gift we by no means deserve.

We covered the first assertion yesterday. Today I must account for my second statement. But as I write those words I wonder, must I really account for such a statement? Sadly yes. I must. For according to Scripture, hidden within every human heart is not only the arrogant belief that we are or can be the masters of our own fate (a notion more readily encouraged in our culture), but also the belief that if we live some sort of half-decent life, we somehow deserve a good bit of blessing from God.

Biblical evidence for this abounds. But the nation of Israel in the Old Testament is probably the best example. For when you look at the biblical record, you find that the people of Israel, though graciously delivered and built up as a people by a sovereign and gracious work of God, consistently came to view their relationship with God as an employee views his relationship with his employer. “I do this work for you and you are obligated to give such and such to me.” Just read the major prophets semi-carefully and you find that no matter how wicked they became, the people of Israel somehow believed that if they went through the religious motions, God was obligated to give them what He promised.

Lest we feel superior to them, however, we are wise to recognize that this notion of deservedness is hidden within us all. For no matter who we are or even how bad we have been, we like to think that we can make everything right ourselves. We can do enough good to warrant heaven. Or at least a good life. All we need to do is to turn things around, get ourselves on track, maybe even pray and read our Bible enough, etc. etc. And this is true whether we are religious or not.

But here is where the Bible steps in and makes us very uncomfortable. For it teaches that because of our sin, no one deserves any good from God, no matter what they do or how consistently they do it. Indeed, it states that in light of how great God is and how bad sin is, every one of us deserves nothing but His eternal wrath. I don’t find it very comfortable either, but it is very plain. Unless you want to pull a Thomas Jefferson and cut out the parts of the Bible you don’t like, you have to accept it. From a biblical perspective, we are beyond gone and can do nothing to save ourselves. Religious or not, God is not our employer. Never was and never will be. And even if He were, our works fall so far short of His perfect standards, that rather than Him owing us for what we have done, we owe Him even more.

Are you bothered by such a notion? So am I. Who in their right mind wouldn’t be? But the fact that we are so bothered by it simply serves to highlight how much we like the notion of deservedness. We are uncomfortable believing such a reality because if we choose to accept it, we have to recognize that we can do nothing to save ourselves or make ourselves right or worthy of blessing. We need help from outside. We need a Savior.

And this is where the good news of Jesus Christ comes in. For He is that Savior who has come to do what we could not. He is the ultimate Helper of the helpless. Where we have failed, He has succeeded, once for all, in our place. The wrath we deserve, He has taken upon Himself. The debts we owe, He has paid in full. If we will but believe in Him, banking all our hopes for a happy future upon Him, eternal life in Him is ours.

What does all this have to do with the pursuit of athletic greatness? Well, nothing and everything at the same time. For how can you possibly be arrogant in the face of such truth? How can you not walk in humility if you believe such things? When you look at what you have in light of what you really deserve, you cannot help but pursue athletic greatness humbly.

Not only that, but your entire pursuit (and thus, this entire series) is put into perspective. Eternity is kept in view. The goodness of God in the giving of His gifts is plain. And the price for all those gifts is more than evident. And though some may think such realities hinder the pursuit of greatness, I cannot concur. For these are the realities of the gospel, realities of freedom, realities of joy, realities with a long and happy future in view – a long and happy future that when rightly considered, vastly transforms the now. Yes, even the ‘now’ of our athletic pursuits.

Today I (begin to) conclude my final point in answer to the questions: Why and how should a Christian pursue athletic greatness? Or, as a Christian, how can I justify my drive to become the best athlete I can be? (If you haven’t been following along, you can follow my outline here.)

Point six is this: A Christian should joyfully pursue athletic greatness with utmost diligence and utmost humility.

My last post focused upon ‘utmost diligence.’ Today we look at why we should pursue athletic greatness with ‘utmost humility.’ Two primary reasons come to mind.

a) If we are seeing clearly, we will recognize that the entirety of our pursuit is a gift.

b) If we are seeing clearly, we will recognize that it is a gift we by no means deserve.

Regarding my first point, I recall a conversation I once had with a teammate of mine. In talking about the Lord and basketball, I said, “In the end, we really cannot take any ultimate credit for how good we have become or how successful we have been.” He was a little perplexed and replied, “But what about how hard we have worked?” I replied, “True, we have worked hard, but would it have mattered how hard we were willing to work if we were born on a mountain in Tibet or in a culture that doesn’t value basketball? Or if we were born a hundred years ago, where opportunities to get paid to play were virtually nil? Or if we didn’t have the thousand other variables outside of our control that all came together to make us who we are and to give us the opportunities we have enjoyed?” He calmly replied, “Yea, I suppose you have a point.”

And yet, this is a point we rarely consider – in any sphere of life, but especially in sports. For we are constantly bombarded with the myth that we can become anything we want to become. That if we just work hard enough, we can do anything we wish. Whether you read a story about an athlete in the local paper or watch a special on ESPN, more times than not, you will hear about perseverance and the diligent pursuit of excellence. And of course, they have a point. A very important one. But it is still only one point. Important as it is, it is actually only a small part of the story.

For no matter how hard you are willing to work, you have to concede that there are countless variables outside your control that play a part (often a large one) in who you become and how great you become as an athlete. Where you are born. Who your parents are, what they value, where you live, the opportunities they give you. Who coaches you, how they view you, encourage you, teach you, and help you move onto the next level. Whether or not you stay healthy. And as you reach the higher levels, you even have to factor in things like what the graduate assistant or random European coach thinks about your videotape. Or how well you play in a seemingly meaningless game that has a coach or scout in attendance. And on and on I could go.

All that being said, you can understand that as important as diligence and hard work are, they are far from the entire story. You are wise to fact the facts: you are not the master of your own fate. You cannot become anything you dream of simply by working hard. To believe so is not only foolish and short-sighted, but straight up arrogant and therefore, contrary to the humble pursuit of athletic greatness.

James 4:13-16 is very applicable in this regard,

Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’ – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

Strong words aren’t they? Indeed. But you understand why they are true don’t you? For the mindset that says you are in control of your own fate, that you are the real reason why you can have success, is a mindset that leaves out the all-defining reality of God. It is mindset that exalts us and belittles Him. It is pride at its highest heights and it is far from pretty in the Lord’s sight. Can you really know what you can become if you dream well, work hard, and plan accordingly? No. Plain and simple, no. Plan and labor all you want (and you should), but do so embracing the fact that only if the Lord wills will you do this or that.

And so it is that our pursuit of athletic greatness ought to be a very humble pursuit. If we are seeing clearly, we must recognize that every natural gift and providential opportunity we have to pursue athletic greatness is a gift from a sovereign God. It’s not random chance that we can explain away and then take credit for ourselves. Nor is it something guaranteed to last. And definitely not something we deserve to receive, no matter how hard we may work. Labor as we may (and we should labor with diligence!), our hearts should be very humble throughout.

Today we continue with point number five in answer to my questions: Why and how should a Christian pursue athletic greatness? Or, as a Christian, how can I justify my drive to become the best athlete I can be? (If you haven’t been following along, you can follow my outline here.)

5) A Christian should joyfully pursue athletic greatness in light of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Yesterday I pointed out how the gospel frees us from pursuing excellence in order to prove ourselves. Today I make one other assertion regarding point five.

b) The gospel frees us from the need to exalt ourselves.

Yesterday I spelled out the whole biblical story in abbreviated form in order to highlight how our sin has led us to define ourselves by what we do or what we can obtain or who we can become. I said that from a biblical perspective, we seek to prove ourselves or define ourselves by our works because we have cut ourselves off from the One who was meant to give us true life, meaning, security, and identity.

The foundation for this point is really the same. However, rather than emphasizing the desire to prove ourselves or define ourselves by our works, this point emphasizes the inner desire to receive credit or glory for those works. Again, this pursuit of glory or self-exaltation does not look the same for us all, but from a biblical perspective, it is always there. We want to be recognized, given credit, have someone take notice of what we do or what we have obtained or who we have become. And usually, we want it way too much.

And can there be any doubt that this desire for self-exaltation is written all over the pursuit of athletic excellence in our day? If you don’t believe so, you must not have a TV. For no matter the contest, you are bound to see plenty an athlete in pursuit of personal glory. It is all too obvious that humility does not dominate our sports today.

And yet, from a biblical perspective, this pursuit of glory is not all bad. It is simply misdirected. For according to the biblical story, we were created to pursue glory. Just not our own. Instead, we were created by God to pursue His glory in our every word, thought, and endeavor. Indeed, we can even say that it is our glory to do so. Even in sports.

But again, our sin cut us off from this design. By rebelling against our Creator, we cut ourselves off from the pursuit of His glory and instead, embarked in pursuit of our own. But here comes the good news yet again. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are made right with God and set free from the burdening pursuit of self-glory. Our hearts are made new and centered upon the only pursuit of glory that matters, the pursuit of the glory of God. Indeed, because of Jesus Christ, we can find our true glory by seeking His.

How this changes our pursuit of athletic excellence should be obvious yet again. For rather than seeking athletic greatness with a view towards exalting our own greatness, we can seek greatness with a view towards exalting God’s greatness. And though it may not seem so motivating at first glance, if the biblical story is accurate, there is actually no greater motivating force in all the world. For if the glory of God is at the center of God’s design, the pursuit of His glory must be the most freeing and empowering in all the world. It must be what is best for us. No doubt, it is much better than the weight of seeking our own.

Actually, in the end, if you really want your own highest glory, the only way to find it is by seeking His. As Jesus said, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12). Humility, rather than a hindrance to athletic excellence, is actually essential to such a pursuit. For only the humble heart can be in radical pursuit of the glory of God (with a right mind at least). Indeed, only with a humble heart can we become as excellent as God wants us to be. Even in sports.

Does that sound like good news? I hope so. For it is certainly good news to me.

Today we move forward with point number five in answer to my questions: Why and how should a Christian pursue athletic greatness? Or, as a Christian, how can I justify my drive to become the best athlete I can be? (If you haven’t been following along, you can follow my outline here.)

I believe I can summarize my final two points over the next few days. Never mind, I just wrote today’s post and only covered part of this point. But here we go. Today I comment upon this:

5) A Christian should joyfully pursue athletic greatness in light of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

In looking again at this point, I suppose nothing could be more obvious. After all, if you are a Christian, the entirety of your life is supposed to be lived in light of the person and work of Jesus Christ. The very title ‘Christian’ makes that plain. What Jesus has done, continues to do, and one day will do is supposed to define the whole of your existence. The good news of Jesus (the gospel) is not a mere starting point for your life as a Christian, but the central message that when faithfully understood and applied shapes your entire life. So naturally it ought to define how you pursue athletic greatness.

That being said, I realize that it may not be so obvious how the gospel affects the way in which you seek athletic greatness. If I were to ask various Christian athletes, “How do the truths of the gospel change the way you seek athletic greatness?”, I can’t help but think that I would encounter more than a few blank stares. So today I offer the first of three ways in which it does. Or at least it should.

a) The gospel frees you from the need to prove yourself.

If you look at the beginning of the Christian story, you find that although God created man to do creative works, He did not mean for those works to define man’s very essence. Instead, God Himself was supposed to be the beginning, middle, and end for man. As image-bearer, man’s relationship to his Creator was the most important thing about him. His works were meant to be the overflow of the satisfaction he found in his God.

When man sinned, however, he essentially told God that he didn’t need Him in order to find meaning and purpose in life. Instead, he could independently define his own existence, prove his own worth. Obviously this didn’t turn out so well. Though man continued to work, he worked in order to define or to prove himself. Because his identity was not secure in his Maker, his works (whatever they were) became too important to him. His work (or his perspective on his work) became jacked-up, because he was jacked-up. And he was jacked-up, because he foolishly believed he could do life on his own.

Naturally, what this independence looks like varies with each individual. But according to the biblical story, that same drive to make something of yourself, to define your own existence, is now written on every human heart. Though one man may aim for a holy life or a nice family while another pursues a selfish hedonism, there is the same drive in both. Deep down, all of us are inclined to define ourselves by ourselves. By what we do, what we can obtain, what we can overcome, or who we can become. From a biblical perspective, this is our self-salvation or self-justification project. And it is all based on works.

I can’t imagine I need to give examples of how this plays out in the pursuit of athletic excellence. For the entirety of the sports world is filled with great athletes who play not because they are free from the need to prove themselves, but because they are desperately insecure and thus, using their athletic greatness to show they have worth. The competitive atmosphere of the athletic world only heightens the possibility that athletes will use their athletic greatness to prove themselves. Though some look to their athletic work more than others, virtually every high-level athlete cannot help but define himself on the basis of his athletic performance. No doubt this explains why many an athlete cannot give up his pursuit.

This theme is particularly close to my heart, because I used to be one of these athletes (and still struggle with it to some degree). Indeed, I believe I hindered much of my athletic potential because my pursuit of athletic greatness was so wrapped up into how I viewed myself as an individual. And I know I am not alone. I have lived too long in the sports world and have read too many biographies of high-level athletes to be so naive. This is a struggle for every athlete because it is a struggle for every man, woman, and child in the world.

But there is good news. And that good news is that through the person and work of Jesus Christ, we can be reconciled to God. The all-important relationship with Him that we messed up can be restored. If we bank our hopes upon Christ, God will justify us, accept us, and declare us His own. He will unite us to Christ and give us a new identity as His child and a permanent security as His heir.

Thus, through Christ, our life can be re-ordered according to God’s original design. We can be centered upon Him once again and in turn, do good works accordingly. We no longer have to prove ourselves or show ourselves worthy of respect or love or admiration. For no matter what we do, our standing with God through Christ does not change. Our identity in Him is permanent. We are forever secure.

And though it might not seem so at first glance, this has a profound effect on the way we pursue athletic excellence. For such truth cuts right to the heart of our pursuit and empowers us to seek greatness for the right reasons, with the right kind of heart. While the desire to prove oneself puts a weight on our shoulders that we cannot bear (a weight that I firmly believe hinders the potential of even the greatest of athletes), the good news of the gospel removes that weight and enables us to pursue greatness with a freedom and a joy that actually enhances our pursuit. Through Christ we are free from the need to get certain results. We are free to simply become the best we can be to His glory. And that freedom is actually exactly what we need to become our best.

I have read numerous sports psychology books over the years. And one of the things they all agree upon is that in order for you to perform your best, you must not be overly concerned about results. Peak performance always comes by focusing on the process and being free from the pressure that comes when you believe you have to win or have to perform at a certain level. Paradoxically, your best chance to perform well comes only when you aren’t overly concerned with performing well. Freedom from the need to achieve certain results actually gives you a better chance of obtaining those results.

And so it is for our pursuit of athletic excellence. Paradoxically, only when you are free from the need to achieve athletic excellence can you actually become all you want to be. Freedom from the need to prove yourself is vital. And from a Christian perspective, such freedom can only be found in the person and work of Jesus Christ.