“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as ransom for many.” – Mark 10:45
Put Others in Position to Thrive
As we approach the end of the Major League Baseball season, take notice as the offensive strategies for some teams in the playoff hunt begin to shift. We tend to see hitters give themselves up and bunt as opposed to swinging out of their shoes. This sacrificial form of offense (rightfully known as the sacrifice bunt) moves runners into scoring position and usually leaves the hitter to get thrown out at first base. The parade of high fives awaiting the hitter in the dugout looks as though a ball was just knocked out of the ballpark.
Why is that? There’s something beautiful in sacrifice. Philippians 2:4 says: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others.”
I fully believe we are absolutely at our best when we are serving. In a self-consumed culture, we must re-orient ourselves constantly to put others first. As if this wasn’t difficult enough, we are often put in positions to serve others when those same people seem to never serve us.
Ouch. Did a familiar situation just come to your mind? Jesus did this very same thing for us. He sacrificed his life for you despite your past, present and future. That’s right, Jesus knows the sins you haven’t even committed yet! You’re forgiven.
I can tell you from experience that it feels great to lay down a sacrifice bunt. The same experience tells me there is nothing more disappointing as a hitter than to fail at getting the sacrifice bunt down. That’s because the sacrifice is more about putting others in a position to thrive rather than yourself. We may not feel it right away, but we are being spiritually nourished at the same time!
Even if it’s difficult, you’ll never regret servings others sacrificially. Can we lean into God’s help when tasked with serving others today?
— Ryan Noelte
If you would like to submit a reader devotional, please email all submissions to jason@sportsspectrum.com.
Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts, left, and second baseman Tommy Edman a win, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
The Los Angeles Dodgers have already clinched their fifth straight National League Division championship and now have their sights set on October, where they hope to become just the third franchise to win three consecutive World Series titles. There’s loads of talent up and down the roster, and there’s also a strong core of believers who are vocal about their faith in God.
Six players — utility man Tommy Edman, star outfielder Mookie Betts, reliever Blake Treinen, starting pitcher Justin Wrobleski, reliever Evan Phillips and outfielder Alex Call — joined team chaplain Brandon Cash for Faith and Family Day on Sunday, where they shared their testimonies and how their faith guides them as professional baseball players. It’s an annual event many teams hold, like the Cleveland Guardians and Pittsburgh Pirates.
All six are regular attendees of team chapels and seen as leaders in the clubhouse as much as they are on the field. Call, for example, was traded from the Washington Nationals to L.A. at the trade deadline last season. Cash said he was excited because he heard Call was the spiritual leader in the Washington clubhouse, and he’s since carried that over to the Dodgers.
His testimony mirrored many of his teammates’ in a lot of ways in that he grew up in church with parents who modeled what it looked like to have a strong faith. Like a lot of believers, once he was on his own in college and then as a professional player, he had to decide if his faith was his own or just something he believed because his parents did.
“That’s where it kind of became real for me,” Call said. “I went from, ‘Yeah, I don’t do this or this because I’m a Christian’ to ‘God calls us all to be disciple makers. He calls us all to love and to be a blessing.’ That’s where I turned it up a notch and try not to be ashamed of the Gospel or anything else — just glorify Jesus in my daily life and on the field.”
Wrobleski had a similar upbringing thanks to a mother who set an example and raised him in the faith.
“It’s been a journey for me,” he said. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say there were ups and downs with my faith and God trying to show me things and get me back to where I need to be. Every time I feel like I’ve been down in my life or I feel like things aren’t going the way that I want, it’s just God showing me I need to get back to the Word and pray.”
A first-time All-Star this year, Wrobleski has been a pleasant surprise for the Dodgers and a mainstay in the rotation, making 22 starts with a 3.70 ERA. The Dodgers could use him either in the rotation or as a long reliever in the postseason like last year.
He shared that a verse that’s stuck with him lately is Romans 12:12, which says, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
“That’s something I’m trying to live out right now,” he said. “It’s a journey. Knowing Jesus obviously gives you that peace when you’re out there. For me, it’s big before the game. It’s a super big blessing to pitch for the Dodgers, but there’s a lot of pressure that comes with it. Just knowing that the results aren’t always what matters; it’s just giving your performance to the Lord, good or bad, and that’s kind of been something I’m trying to do this year.”
That pressure is felt by all the players. They know the expectations that come with playing in L.A. They know their team is loaded with talent and high-priced players.
Edman — who shared that his faith grew substantially when he was in college at Stanford thanks to faith mentors and involvement in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes — said he handles the scrutiny of playing pro baseball by remembering that his identity is in Christ.
“As a baseball player, one of the big struggles that we have is our identity being tied up in our performance on the field or being just a baseball player,” Edman said. “Baseball is such a crazy long season and a rollercoaster of emotions that you can go up and down like crazy.
“I have my identity rooted in my role as a son of God and a follower of Jesus Christ. I always have that in my foundation. Not to say that helps me perform on the field, but it definitely allows me to have that inner peace regardless of how I’ve done on the baseball field.”
Each player has a different background that led them to where they are personally and professionally, and that’s something that makes the chapel dynamic unique, Cash said. For example, Betts didn’t really grow up in the church like some of his teammates did. He spent most of his weekends playing baseball, and going to church just wasn’t much of a priority.
“As I got a little older playing ball, I kind of wanted the sense of purpose, because ball is just an avenue to show what God has given me and given all of us,” said Betts, an eight-time All-Star. “Once I wanted to learn my purpose, I think going to chapel, getting to know Cash, getting to know these guys has really changed my life completely. These are literally like my brothers. Obviously we’ve grown playing baseball and winning together, but I think we’ve grown the most in our Bible studies and our chapels on Sundays.”
He said he just read through 1 and 2 Kings, where he read about King Soloman and how he was wise and felt on top of the world. Betts saw some similarities to pro baseball.
“When you’re on top of the world and everything’s going great, but you lose what’s important, which is God, you kind of lose everything,” he said. “No matter how good or bad I do, I make sure to give glory to God and I make sure that every day I pray and give glory to Him because everything we have here is for Him.”
Treinen, who’s now in his seventh season with the Dodgers, shared that he sort of begrudgingly attended church growing up. His mother was a member of the worship team, which meant he often spent all morning and part of the afternoon at church when he would’ve rather been home watching football.
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve greatly appreciated the stubbornness and consistency that my mom put in my life for me and my brother to take us to church on Sunday,” he said. “It was a lot as a kid, but it built a structure of faith and a standard of worship in life.”
He recalled a moment at a youth conference at the University of Tennessee where he said he “felt the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit just rock me and put me in my seat.” He recounted how Christians should always be able to give an answer for the hope they have in Jesus, and that experience is what he goes back to when explaining where he first believed.
“We all have the right to believe what we want,” he said. “But when you see the truth and the facts and the tangible hand of God in your life, it separates just wanting to be a good person and knowing Jesus is real, to ‘this is absolute.’ I’ve experienced the presence of the Father and I will forever with my life.”
Even though my career didn’t revolve around social media or NIL, I was still full of myself. I graduated from Oregon thinking my little receipt would land me my dream job at ESPN, but I was wrong. I was wrapped up in softball because of my flawed identity. For years, I worked hard for college, so when it ended, I was devastated. No substance — just a gut check I wasn’t prepared for.
It took me months to land my first gig, and when I did, it was pathetic. I made $10 an hour in a warehouse that I walked to and from for a while. It was hard to fathom this new rock bottom.
When I fully surrendered to Jesus, I realized how lost I was! My identity was in softball, not my Savior. As I matured in the Lord, God revealed plans and people I wanted to hold on to, but they needed to be released so I could experience abundant life as His disciple. Softball was my god and it was worthless, like all the other idols we hold before King Jesus. The softball world wasn’t the roadmap for me, and I finally swallowed the pill I avoided for years.
As your journey with the Lord continues, ask God to search your heart to identify people and plans that may not align with His plans for you. Are you willing to let go of them? Are you trusting God’s ordained steps for you? Or do you think you can do a better job than Yahweh Himself?
— Monique Fuiava, University of Oregon women’s chaplain
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them — yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” — 1 Corinthians 15:10
Intensity is necessary to succeed in sports, from physical force to focus on and off the field. Though this can often be good, there are sides to intensity that aren’t as appealing, like screaming coaches, players berating officials, illegal plays, or humiliating a player when a mistake is made.
As humans, athletes will all make mistakes and miss a play or fall short of expectations. Some grace is needed or players may quit out of discouragement, or lose the ability to perform well because of the extreme pressure to not make a mistake.
The best coaches extend some mercy to their players while driving them to do their best. A little bit of grace builds strong relationships for the entire playing career of athletes.
In so many ways, we can apply these concepts to our walk with God. We can be thankful for our gracious Father because we’d be hopeless without His marvelous and infinite grace. In spite of our many shortcomings, Jesus came down to where we are to save our broken world, and He encourages us to grow in His likeness so we can be our best.
The apostle Paul was shocked when he woke up from his spiritual blindness and saw how far Jesus brought him from Satan’s clutches to God’s Kingdom of light (1 Timothy 1:13-15). His list of guilt was long and God’s grace was abundant.
Surely, Paul knew he didn’t deserve to stand near God or be one of His messengers, but he was so grateful for God’s grace that he was spurred on to work harder than anyone else, acknowledging it was only through the grace of God that was with him (1 Corinthians 15:9-10). He kept going by grace.
We haven’t understood grace unless it puts us into active work for the Lord. We can’t repay God for His grace, but we can magnify grace by living a Godly life.
— Bill Kent, Pastor of Memorial Baptist Church, Sylvania, Georgia
Jordan Stolz of the U.S. celebrates with his coach Bob Corby at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
“Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.” — Deuteronomy 32:7
Bob Corby thought he was done with speed skating. After competing for years himself and then coaching the sport for a stint, he had become a physiotherapist with his own practice and hung up the skates in the 1990s. But 20 years later, he received an unexpected phone call from a 14-year-old young man named Jordan Stolz with a request for him to return to coaching as his personal instructor. Corby was now in his 70s, so this request was no small consideration.
But the fact that this kid had done his research, knew Corby had been one of the best to ever do it, and was so passionate about getting to work, made the answer a pretty quick one. Corby said yes, and the rest has literally been history.
Stolz’s talent coupled with an incredible work ethic led him to three Olympic medals at the Milan Olympics, two of them gold. Corby says coaching the young man has been a dream, sometimes even leaving him in amazement at what Stolz is accomplishing. And the 22-year-old is not even close to being done yet!
I find this story extremely touching because, so often, generations ignore one another and find it hard to connect. The older ones can easily dismiss and stereotype the young ones with a typical “kids these days” remark, failing to see the value the youth of today bring to the table.
In the same way, young people can categorize the elderly and disregard the depth of wisdom they can offer — the perspective of having lived many years on this planet and gained much experience along the way. Things a young person is living through for the first time are already part of the story for an elder, giving them a unique ability to speak into that young person’s life.
Stolz saw the value in Corby’s experience as a former skater and coach, and refused to believe that his “outdated” style was irrelevant to the sport today. As a result, other skaters are now looking into some of Stolz’s “old school” methods and realizing the value of them.
God takes the concept of generations seriously. From His warning that sins in a family will be visited to the third and fourth generations (Exodus 34:7), to His command to “stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly” (Leviticus 19:32a), God wants to involve all of the generations in His plan.
His Kingdom is made up of all ages and experiences, and this is why it matters so much that we encourage our churches, teams, businesses, friendships and families to be built around the shared knowledge and wisdom of varying ages and experiences. The youth must see the importance of their elders and the elders must see the value of the youth. Together, this combination builds a force for good that is reflective of the community God has in mind.
So today, maybe call up your grandparent or an elderly friend. Or, if you’re older yourself, go have a young person teach you something new today. We all need each other and can learn from one another, if only we choose to.
