“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me His prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.” — 2 Timothy 1: 7-8
Don’t Be Timid
Many of the best athletes in sports today played at colleges without high-profile programs known for producing pros. Antonio Brown (Central Michigan), Adam Thielen (Minnesota State) and Jimmy Garoppolo (Eastern Illinois) come to mind in football. Basketball examples include Damion Lillard (Weber State) and Steph Curry (Davidson). Even though they weren’t recruited by traditional powers, they continued to trust in their abilities and kept working to improve their game.
These players, and plenty of others in similar situations, refused to let the disadvantages that come with going to smaller schools prevent them from pursuing professional careers. At some point, they were given a chance to show what they were capable of. When the opportunity came, they proved they could play with the best of the best and belonged at the highest level sports can offer.
Even though we don’t have the answer to every question and may not feel qualified, God calls us to be bold in our faith. He sent the Holy Spirit so we can share our testimony and spread God’s love fearlessly. God offers hope and eternal life to everyone — that’s a huge deal!
With the Holy Spirit’s help, we don’t have to be ashamed or timid when talking about what the Lord has done.
— Joshua Doering
If you would like to submit a reader devotional, please email all submissions to jason@sportsspectrum.com.
“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’” — 1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV)
I once coached a player who knew her stats better than I did. After almost every match, she’d find me with the box score practically memorized and ask some version of the same question: “Coach, did I do enough?” She was talented and she worked hard, but her performance had become tangled up with how she saw herself, and when the numbers weren’t good, she didn’t just think she’d had a bad match. She felt like she had failed.
I’ve watched some version of that play out for years. Athletes attach their value to points, playing time, rankings and offers. And coaches aren’t immune either, because we can do the same thing with wins, championships and recruiting classes, or with whether anybody notices how hard we’re working. The problem is that your performance was never supposed to determine how much you’re worth.
There will always be another match, and somebody will eventually have better numbers. You may lose your starting position, get injured or work harder than you ever have and still not get the outcome you wanted. If your performance determines your worth, every one of those things becomes bigger than it should be. Because you’re no longer dealing only with disappointment — you’re letting the outcome tell you who you are.
Scripture gives us a completely different picture. When Samuel went to Jesse’s house to anoint the next king of Israel, Eliab looked like the obvious choice, and God corrected Samuel: “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7b, ESV). David wasn’t even brought in with his brothers because he was out tending the sheep, and yet he was the one God chose. Long before David had a crown or a victory anyone would remember, God was looking at the heart while everyone else was looking at what they could see.
One of the easiest mistakes we make is letting a role or an accomplishment become an identity. When that happens, criticism becomes personal instead of useful, and our sense of worth starts rising and falling with outcomes and other people’s opinions, which is an exhausting way to live and not what God intended for us.
Your identity in Christ was established before you recorded a single point, earned a starting position, or won a championship. Your performance, role and opportunities can all change, and none of them get to decide what you’re worth.
That doesn’t mean performance doesn’t matter. I’m a coach, and I absolutely believe in working hard and pursuing excellence. Colossians 3:23 (ESV) tells us, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” The difference is knowing where performance ends and identity begins. A bad game can tell you that you need to work on your passing, but it can’t tell you that you’re less valuable. A great stat line doesn’t make you more worthy than you were before the match, or more valuable than the athlete sitting beside you.
Eventually every athlete has to play their last match, and being an athlete goes from something that has been a huge part of your identity to something you used to do. If your identity has been built on what you accomplished in that uniform, that transition can be incredibly difficult. But if your sport is something you do rather than the source of who you are, you’re free to compete without asking the game to give you something it was never capable of giving.
So play hard, chase excellence and be coachable. When you have a great game, enjoy it. When you have a terrible one, learn from it and get back to work. Just don’t give a stat sheet the authority to tell you what you’re worth. That was never its job.
Your worth was settled long before anybody started keeping score.
“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” — Colossians 3:1-2 (CSB)
Sports officiating is pretty obscure and unique, so it often intrigues many people. Many friends, family members, co-workers, neighbors and even strangers that find out you’re an official exhibit different behaviors and emotions. Some are excited, some are curious, some are skeptical. One thing that most people have are questions.
These questions are usually innocent, sincere and inquisitive. Sometimes people want to have a little more fun with them. Some love the game and want to get in the weeds. Common questions are: “Why/how did you get into it?” “What’s been your favorite game/place to work?” “How much does it pay?” “Who’s the best/worst coach?” The list goes on. Inevitably, the most natural question is, “What game do you have, or where are you working next?”
That final question is pretty harmless and very understandable. It’s a question we as officials ask each other regularly. Non-officials may want to watch you on TV or ask for gear from the campus/game site. Officials may want to watch you, give a scouting report, or maybe come to the game and support.
I’ve certainly asked this question, and when I’m truly in the Spirit, I will pray for them — the crew, safe travels, good performance, etc.
A good friend and brother of mine regularly checks on me, prays for me, and encourages me. He is certainly interested in my officiating journey and has asked many of the questions above. However, he’s recently asked the “right” question, and it has convicted me wholeheartedly.
He now asks me, “Where are you representing Christ this weekend?” Wow! The first time he asked, it didn’t really hit me. When he asked the second week, God spoke to me and challenged me to ask this question of myself and fellow Christian officials. I am no longer focused or as excited about my game site, the city, the stadium or the matchup. My question to myself (and other believers in stripes) is, “Where am I representing Christ next?”
Let’s shift our mindset, focus and even the questions we ask so that we can be more Kingdom-focused in our daily lives!
Mike Breen, NBA play-by-play sports commentator, June 4, 2015. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’” — Matthew 3:16-17
Whether it’s a heavyweight championship boxing match, the Miracle on Ice, or an improbable World Series walk-off home run, the greatest moments in the history of sports are immortalized forever by the announcers tasked with describing the action on radio or television broadcasts.
The greatest announcers can even become synonymous with the game-day experience, the line blurring between their voices and the sports they commentate. Vin Scully is Dodgers baseball. John Madden is NFL football. Often, just a few words from legendary calls transport fans back to the exact time and place they watched or listened to the play unfold.
But as beloved as your favorite announcers are, they can’t be compared to God and His announcement more than 2,000 years ago. At the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, He went to the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist. After He came up out of the water, Heaven was opened and the Spirit of God descended on Him like a dove. Then, with the Trinity on full display, the Father delivered an announcement that would echo for eternity: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
God’s announcement was an announcement of love. For His Son, and for us. Our sins have left this world in a pitiful state of suffering, death and moral depravity. And we see what’s wrong inside of us as clearly as we do around us. But what makes the Gospel — the announcement of who Jesus is and what He did on the cross — such good news is that God didn’t leave us there. There is true healing, true redemption in Christ.
I wonder, has God’s monumental announcement made its way into your soul and changed you? Changed your commitments? Changed your desires? Trust in Christ today, and then enjoy eternity in His perfect presence.
San Antonio Spurs center Tarris Reed Jr. (10), Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
It’s been quite the week for Tarris Reed Jr.
Last Tuesday, the San Antonio Spurs rookie center fulfilled a lifelong dream when he made his NBA debut in a 116-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, logging one minute of game action. He received a DNP on Friday, but on Saturday against the Dallas Mavericks, he played seven minutes, grabbed three rebounds and scored the first two points of his career as his team won, 122-106.
However, basketball milestones weren’t the only things on Reed’s plate. The morning following his first bucket, the 23-year-old underwent the sacrament of baptism at Community Bible Church in San Antonio. Reed shared the joyous news with the world by posting a video on Instagram.
“It’s been on my heart for a while now to be baptized,” Reed captioned his post in part. “I wanted to publicly signify my union with Christ and what it means to walk in His grace, mercy, and NEWNESS OF LIFE!
“The Lord has placed me in a unique position to help others come to know Christ and experience His life changing power. To think that I went from wanting nothing to do with the Lord to now desiring to live for Him is something I never could have imagined. I never would have thought my life would look like this.
“I thank the Lord for His grace and mercy, and for placing me in a position where I can share the Gospel, reach others, and hopefully make an eternal impact on their lives. All glory to God!”
He frequently praises God in posts on Instagram, where he writes “Through Christ alone” in his bio. One such post came in the aftermath of losing the college basketball national championship game to Michigan as a member of the UConn Huskies last April. On the flight back to Storrs, Connecticut, Reed was inspired to speak at an Athletes in Action campus ministry meeting less than 24 hours after the final buzzer sounded in Indianapolis.
And not only did Reed speak about the pain of losing the title game, he also shared his testimony of faith in Jesus. It began as many do. He was introduced to Christ at a young age and frequently attended church, yet he lacked a deep personal relationship with Jesus. His passion was basketball, not the glory of God.
The St. Louis native drifted from the faith as a freshman at Michigan in 2022-23, the very same program that would defeat him on the biggest stage three years later. But a convicting conversation with his strength and conditioning coach led him to truly and intentionally begin reading the Bible, starting with the Book of Matthew.
“It was my first time really learning about Jesus — who He was, how He walked, how He taught, who He helped,” Reed said in his speech. “… From there, that fire was lit. I started to understand who Jesus was and really build a relationship. It put everything into perspective — not making basketball an idol, but seeing it as worship.”
Reed also played the 2023-24 season at Michigan before transferring to UConn, where he blossomed, winning Big East Sixth Man of the Year in 2025 and being named first-team All-Big East in 2026. He was selected with the 26th overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets and immediately traded to the Spurs.
Reed has continued to testify to his faith in Christ on social media and elsewhere during his short time in the NBA, a practice he began while still in college. Amid the pain and disappointment of losing the national championship game, Reed praised the Lord during his postgame press conference.
“I’m filled with gratitude just looking around, just so thankful for it all,” he said on the podcast. “It’s crazy how I’m at my last year, going into my last semester, and now I’m realizing, ‘Wow, look at the Lord. Look what the Lord has blessed me with.’ I wish I could have known this in my freshman year. … Be grateful for it, man, because this is it for me.”
Later in the podcast, he talked about being born again in Christ.
“Jesus just wiped my eyes clean,” he said. “I got to see the world through a whole new lens. That’s really where my journey began. That’s where the seed — my whole life — just grew and it started to blossom from there.”
Reed is now baptized, playing with gratitude for who Jesus is, and worshiping Him with his basketball abilities. Secure in his union with Christ, Reed will continue to try to carve out minutes for himself and help the Spurs in their quest to return to the NBA Finals.
Next up, San Antonio hosts the Sacramento Kings (0-3) on Tuesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.
