Performance counts. It isn’t a bad thing, but an unhealthy point of view as a competitor can produce bad habits, wrong motivations and unnecessary pressures. The good news is that your identity in Christ gives you a new way to perform.

When you have found your new identity in Christ, it will help you unlock your full potential and lead to a greater performance for His glory. You are now playing for Someone, not something.

If we feel it’s up to us to win a game, carry our team or live up to the social hype or media pressure, the foundation of our identity begins to crack. It’s an impossible standard to live up to and creates a false sense of success that makes our performance impossible to keep up. Understanding that God is the only person they truly need to please can certainly bring peace, joy and freedom from fear. How do we play like this?

Losing to Win

When your identity is in Christ, you are no longer performing for yourself, your coach, your family or your friends. The only true voice we need to listen to is God’s. He says we are secure as His son or daughter, and we can be confident in this. He has already said we are enough through Christ, and no one can change that. Not a coach, a teammate, the newspaper or anything else. Once you only compete for Him, others can see Christ working through you as an athlete.

That’s why it’s so important to stay connected to “the vine” and remain in Christ (John 15:5). But that also means you must sacrifice your wants and plans and commit your life to Jesus. It may not always make sense, but for the athlete, it’s like losing to win.

“’The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.’” -John 12:25

Read the full article to learn more about what it means when your identity in Christ gives you a new way to perform.