“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” — Colossians 3:23-24
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Growing up, sports have always been a part of my world. I have many fond and vivid memories spending my Saturdays on the couch watching football with my dad, out at the barn, or on the golf course with my family.
While I didn’t play a “traditional sport” such as volleyball, soccer or softball, the older I got, the more my sport became less just a part of my world and more so my entire world. Weekly lessons turned into weekends away, weekends away turned into whole summers, and whole summers turned into weeks at a time away from school. My world spun around my sport, it was basically the only thing I knew.
As a junior in high school, I committed to Baylor’s equestrian team, and from that point on I began my list of goals I was going to strive for, achievements I was going to accomplish, and determined the person I wanted to become.
Arriving on campus as a freshman felt like the beginning of something new. At the time, I thought that meant checking off the checklist I had prepared for myself, but the Lord kindly showed me He had something more waiting for me. It was the beginning of something new: me finding my true identity in Christ alone, not what I could accomplish within my sport.
Long story short, I did not check off a lot of the goals I had set for myself or accomplish my laundry list of achievements. There were many moments when I questioned my placement, my role and my purpose. However, the more I took those feelings and my “lists” to the Lord, the more He reshaped my heart and showed me where true value is found — not in the achievements, not in the awards, not in the playing time, but in Him and His sacrifice alone.
He specifically and uniquely created us with skills and abilities to perform in our sports. What if we trusted the Lord’s hand in our sport just as we do His hand in our salvation? When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are saying we trust Him with today, tomorrow and our eternity. He can also be trusted with our sport — in which He positioned us — no matter what our role may look like.
Walking in our sport with the same faith that we place in Jesus for our salvation allows us to compete freely, not perform and strive for acceptance. When we know God’s character is consistent, we are able to trust where He places us and lean on Him to equip us.
Perhaps our sport was not created merely for competition, but as an opportunity to showcase God’s handiwork, exercise our faith in a different, unique-to-us way, and to experience the true freedom of living surrendered to Christ’s calling on our lives.
— Avery Mortman
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