It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
With March madness coming,
The office is humming with bracket-brained cheer!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
There’ll be brackets for busting,
Buzzers for beating,
Cinderellas making a run.
Upsets and close-calls,
It’s the year’s best bball
Will a sixteen take down a one?
With the greatest sporting event on the calendar about to launch, this feels like an appropriate time for some public musings about competition as a Christian. Athletics and competition have been and continue to be a big part of my life. I began playing basketball in elementary school and continued through college; and I just wrapped up my fourteenth season coaching basketball at a small Christian school where I also serve as athletic director. While neither my playing nor coaching abilities are anything to brag about, sports have played a significant role in my life. And though you may not be athletic or even competitive, my guess is that competition influences you in some way as well. Whether it’s board games, little league, bowling night, Bunko, or a March Madness bracket challenge, competition touches your life.
As believers we truly want to “glorify God” in competition, whether as a participant or a spectator. But what does that actually mean? We don’t have exactly have an example of Jesus and the disciples playing a game of pick-up basketball or flag football. And we have no account of Paul and Barnabas heading to the golf course on their day off. However, because Scripture is sufficient for addressing all areas of life, we are not without grounds to establish a biblical philosophy even of competition. If we have been radically changed by Christ and are, in fact, “new creations” in Him (2 Cor. 5:17), then everything about us ought to be fundamentally different—including the way we compete. But how?
Whatever You Play, Play Hard (Col. 3:23; Matt. 19:19)
Paul admonishes slaves in Colossae to do their work “heartily,” according to most translations, or “with enthusiasm,” as the NET puts it (3:23). First-century slaves and 21st century competitors are not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. However, we still have good, biblical grounds for applying this command to all that all of us do. God, the Creator, created everything good (Gen. 1). He didn’t create anything half-baked or half-cocked. He made it all “good” from the beginning. All that He does, He does excellently. He expects nothing less from His children. Therefore, whether you’re playing Scrabble, four-square, or pickleball, you have biblical grounds to play to the best of your ability. You should strive to do your best in all that you do.
Love Your Neighbor
In my years as a coach, I have had a few seasons of dominance, but also a few of decided non-dominance. In those down years, when we had to play a much better team, it was tempting to give up before the game had even begun. However, we had to challenge ourselves to compete at our best level (even if that wasn’t very good) in order to show our opponents love. As weird as it sounds, playing hard for the entire duration of the game may just be a way to show the love of Christ. If your opponent is there to compete, it would be unloving to back out of your end of the bargain. Give them the best competition you can!
On the other hand, when you’re the much more dominant one, keeping the second great command in mind is important as well. Running up a score, condescending, or shaming the other team in any way clearly violates Scripture and the character of Christ. It should have no place in the game of a believer.
Remember Your Opponent (and the Referee!) Is a Person (Gen. 1:26-27)
Rivalries are great. Because I cheer for Duke, I cannot ever bring myself to root for the University of North Carolina. And as a fan of the Green Bay Packers, I have a hard time not relishing every loss suffered by the Minnesota Vikings (especially since I’m surrounded by Vikings fans). That’s just the way rivalries work. Yankee fans can’t stand the Red Sox; Buckeyes fans despise the Wolverines; and fans of the New York Giants would not be caught dead rooting for the Eagles. Rivalries are fun, and they make sports fun.
However, the fun ends when we forget that, as Jerry Seinfeld once pointed out, we’re basically rooting for laundry. Our team amounts to little more than the clothes people wear. If my favorite player puts on a new shirt next year, he’ll be out of my good graces, because I’m still rooting for the same clothes. We must not forget this and act as if it is the person (player or ref) is our sworn enemy. Uniforms and jerseys are just clothes, but people are made in the image of God.
Even in the heat of competition, we must take our thoughts captive to remember that it’s the clothes we dislike or the call with which we disagree. Followers of Christ, changed from the inside out, remember that all people are created imago Dei—regardless of the clothes they’re wearing or their ability to distinguish between and charge and a block or a ball and a strike. The way we speak to and about other people reveals much about our hearts.
Of course, none of us are perfect. We’re all sinners made righteous by the blood of Christ. If you, like me, are a competitive person, you will probably fail in this area, both out loud and in your heart. The question is, how will you respond? Does repentance come quickly?
Responses Matter (Mark 7:14-23)
A coaching colleague of mine once commented to me, “Competition is a crucible.” It applies heat to our hearts and reveals the true substance of what’s inside. Nothing else can bring sin issues to the surface quite as quickly as stiff competition. Whether it’s little league, Top Golf, checkers, or the World Series, and whether you’re spectating or participating, competition has the power to reveal the true state of your heart. What comes out—whether fruit of the Spirit or fruit of the flesh (see Gal. 5:19-23)—indicates what’s really in there in the first place (Mark 7:14-23).
Believer, your response—even in the midst of competition—matters. None of us get a free pass on words spoken in anger (guilty) or actions done in frustration (guilty again). Jesus spoke these very convicting words about what we might consider “throwaway comments”:
“I tell you that on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak. (Mat 12:36)
This verse makes my blood run cold. “Every careless word?” Yikes! From trash talk, self-aggrandizement, insults, slander, or swearing—all that we might say “in the moment” and then try to retract later are noticed by God; and He cares about every single one.
This makes me more grateful than ever for the Gospel. I don’t know exactly what it will look like to “account” for my every thoughtless utterance, but I do know that I will not be condemned for them. That condemnation was taken for me by the spotless Lamb (Rom. 8:1).
Friend and co-competitor, your responses matter. The outcome of the game or event is of little value, but your response may have eternal significance.
Be Moved to Worship God, and Not His Creation
Recently LeBron James became the first NBA player in history to score 40,000 points. Meanwhile Caitlin Clark has been dazzling audiences all season with her scoring prowess on her way to racking up more points than any collegiate athlete ever—even the great Pistol Pete himself (as I write this, she’s at 3,685). From Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Novak Djokovic, Simone Biles, or Sabrina Ionescu, we love to watch people who can play the games we love. Buzzer beaters, Hail Mary’s, perfect-10’s, no-look passes, and aces right down the center line all leave us stunned—awestruck at what a human can do.
This is only right. God has given certain people undeniable and simply awe-some talent. But He didn’t give it so that the athlete might be worshiped. He gave it to point to His own greatness. Competing (or spectating) to the glory of God means that we worship Him and Him alone. We mustn’t worship wins, heroes, or adulation. We must worship first and only the Creator of it all.
Sports and competition are good gifts. I suspect they’ll be around in heaven in a beautifully sanctified form. Until then, however, we must seek to enjoy them and partake of them in a way that speaks to the radical transformation we have undergone by the grace of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Bible Study Nerd 