Put yourself in my teenage shoes.
As the leading scorer on my high school basketball team, I step to the free-throw line with the game on my shoulders. “I’ve made millions of these,” I tell myself. The ref sends a bounce pass my way and barks out, “One-and-one, fellas!” I catch the ball, look up at the rim and—gulp—my heart drops into my stomach. The hoop looks about an inch wide and a mile away. My body felt like it was filled with concrete, paralyzed with the anxiety and pressure of what seemed like the most important moment in the history of the world.
In hindsight, that situation seems slightly insignificant. It’s funny how life—and the pressures that come with it—can change in a flash. I honestly don’t even remember if I made the shot. All I recall is the feeling of helplessness in a tense situation and how the pressure paralyzed me.
Sports are filled with those types of circumstances. A full count with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, a goalkeeper facing a must-save penalty kick to give her team the win, a kicker sizing up a 40-yard field goal in the final seconds. There’s a reason the phrases “ice the kicker” or “ice the shooter” exist. In that moment, it’s hard not to freeze up, just like I did.
Athletics are often referred to as a microcosm for life. The stress coaches and athletes face is intense, but once the game is finished we all return to our real lives, and that’s where the pressures—real or perceived—truly do matter.
The single mom with several kids working two jobs just to support them. The businessman with piles of paperwork on his desk and deadlines to meet who longs to be at home with his wife and kids. Or the grown kids whose elderly parents need their support both physically and financially just to survive.
Sports grab the headlines, but these are the real-life, pressure-packed situations facing many of us on a daily basis. The question is, where do we turn? Do we freeze up, or do we lean on someone to help us through?
When you feel pressure and responsibility weighing down on you in those moments, remember beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus knows right where you are. Knowing Him means we don’t have to be affected by the anxiety. There are so many times in the Bible where we’re told to not be cowardly or timid, but to be bold and courageous.
I know it can be hard to feel courageous when it all comes down to you and the odds are stacked against you. But the thing about being a Christ-follower is that victory is definite. The ultimate victory—Christ defeating the grave—has already occurred. Praise the Lord!
Everyone we come in contact with should see the impact of Christ’s sacrifice in our lives. We can live and compete in complete freedom, free from the weight the pressures of this world cause us to bear, just as Jesus promised in John 16:33, “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
So the next time you step up to the "free-throw line" of life, take a deep breath and let it fly... the game has already been won!
Model the Master,
Les Steckel
FCA President/CEO
Originally Published March 2014