By Jolani Yeager
We’ve all heard the saying, “There is no I in team.” If we’re truly honest, however, there are times we take the field or the court as a coach or athlete, and that ‘I’ tends to become very loud in our minds. We think, “I need to score the next goal,” “I need to be faster,” “I need to win us the game,” “I am the coach, so I have the best strategies,” and on and on. We think it’s all on us to come up with the answer or win. But Philippians 2:3-4 tells us, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”
Paul, the author of Philippians, is directing and encouraging us to have a Christ-like perspective when it comes to how we compete. We are to compete with others in mind and play for something greater than ourselves.
Perspective
To compete with others in mind, we must take a look at our perspective on others and on the game. Our perspective can be influenced by various factors: our environment, how we train, our friend groups, how we spend our time, what we watch, etc. One in three people have an eye condition called astigmatism. Astigmatism is a defect in the eye or in a lens caused by a deviation from spherical curvature, which results in distorted images. Just like astigmatism, deviating from God’s Word and purpose for our lives results in a distorted perspective on life, which can impact how we approach competition. A distorted view has an “I” mentality and says:
● I am only valuable as a teammate or coach if I perform well.
● My future is defined by my success right now.
● My identity is defined by my abilities and skills as a coach or athlete.
The good news is astigmatisms can be corrected by a corrective lens, such as glasses or contacts. As believers, we have direct access to God and His Word, which is the corrective lens that resets our perspective.
Read the rest of the article to learn how the perspective of Jesus can set us straight.
-FCA-