“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” — Psalm 139:16
>> Sign up here for Sports Spectrum devotionals sent right to your email inbox <<
There is a concept in sports that is very popular — doing your individual tasks and only those. Basically, the concept goes as such, according to New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick: “Do your job.”
On a team, it takes a variety of individuals to successfully create a championship culture. For instance, it takes the coaches preparing a competent game plan, the trainers caring for each player’s medical needs, the nutritionists preparing a diet that fuels players, an intern running copies of paperwork in a timely manner. It takes everyone working together, fulfilling the task of their individual role to the best of their ability. It takes the high-priced free agent, the coaching genius and the facility custodian to build a championship team.
The Kingdom of God isn’t much different. We are all individuals who have unique roles to play in this world, all preordained by the Lord. In us, He displays His workmanship both in and through us to the world around us, allowing us to participate in His master plan that will ultimately lead to the extinction of sin, death and evil.
It’s easy to forget exactly how important our job is, along with forgetting how valuable God thinks we are. A Bible passage that demonstrates this is Psalm 139:13-16, which states, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
God has individually knitted each one of us together for a specific purpose. There are no accidents in who we are, the circumstances we’re born into or the joys and hardships we face. Do we always understand them? No. Do we always see the purpose behind them? No. Does God know what He is doing in each one? Unequivocally yes.
Think of the blind beggar Jesus encountered in John 9. This man, born blind, was living in literal darkness prior to the Lord Jesus Christ healing him. After a life of believing he was blind due to sin, Jesus explained that he was born blind so Jesus could perform this incredible miracle in his life. It’s one that continues to lead people to a personal relationship with Jesus to this day. This man had a role to play in God’s plan for the world and he played it, suffering in the short term but being part of a story that influences the world even now.
There are many examples in the Bible of ordinary people who had things happening in their lives they couldn’t understand. Those moments led to God working in supernatural ways, laying the groundwork for events that have not yet taken place. If the pinnacle for an NFL team is winning the Super Bowl and hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, the pinnacle for the body of Christ will be seeing Jesus’ return as is depicted in Revelation 19. He will destroy Satan, and the New Jerusalem will descend from Heaven.
Just like players on an NFL team, we all have jobs in God’s championship moment. So, “do your job” and marvel at how God will use you in a role that was perfectly built for you and you alone.
— Jon Oglesby
If you would like to submit a devotional, please email all submissions to
devotionals@sportsspectrum.com.
Click here for all Sports Spectrum Daily Devotionals
>> Purchase “The Increase 52 Week Devotional” to further grow your relationship with Christ <<
