Adult League Devotions / Week 7

Week 7: 
Only As Good Your Last Game

By Rich Green, Sports Minister at Mount Pleasant Christian Church (Greenwood, Indiana) and adapted from devotional writings from Stuart Weir. 

How many times have you seen it in college and/or professional sports… One day he’s a star and the next day he’s gone. It’s a harsh world! Guy McIntyre of the San Francisco 49ers summed it up well, "I'm in the team until they find someone bigger, faster or that they can pay less to!" 

The values in the world of sports are performance-based. A common cliché in sport is that you are only as good as your last game. If your significance and self-worth are determined by your last performance on the sports field, then you have a problem. Even the greatest of sportspeople cannot achieve to the same standard all the time. Champion golfer Bernhard Langer has said that he is dissatisfied with 95% of the golf shots that he hits - and he is a winner! What hope is there for you and me? 

In the ups and downs of sporting life, it is essential to put your faith in somebody who does not only love you when you play well: "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and for ever"(Hebrews 13:8). If your self-worth is based on an eternal relationship with Jesus Christ, then you can play sport with all your might, give it everything, yet know that ultimately it is not in sport alone that you find your significance. 

P.S., "If my job or my performance is what makes me significant then my life will be like a rollercoaster. If I play well, I'm happy. If I play bad, I'll be upset and I won't be happy until I play good again. I don't want to live like that and thankfully I don't have to. I have infinite worth because God sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for me. Isn't that truly significant?" Former US Masters golf winner, Larry Mize 

Discussion Questions

1. What are your thoughts on what you’ve just Read/Heard? 
   
2. What are some ways we can keep sports, whether as a participant, a coach, or a spectator in the proper perspective. 
   
3. What’s the “Take-A-Way” for tonight? 
   

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