Glory and Sport Series: Giving Glory Through Our Motivation

This is the third in a four part video series written and recorded for Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). The videos are linked to their sharing platforms.

We’ve looked at what God wants the most and identified glory as one of his primary desires. We’ve put some definitions and clarity around what glory is and what it means, at least in theory, to glorify God in sport.

But now it’s time to give some practical application. In the next two videos, we’ll talk about how we, as competitors, can glorify God in two specific categories: through our hearts and through our hands. Through our internal motivations and our external actions. The hope is by the end of these videos that we can move from 30,000 feet understanding to some ground level application.  

Let’s start with what’s going on inside of us. The book of 1 Samuel offers us another glimpse into what God values as we journey together to integrate faith and sport in a way that brings Him glory. Let’s set the scene.

The prophet Samuel is looking for the new King of Israel and God leads him to Jesse’s house. Jessie has eight sons. When Samuel sees Eliab, one of Jesse’s sons, he says “surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” 

Now, why did Samuel assume that Eliab was the guy. He was probably looking for someone who LOOKED like a king. The current king at the time was named Saul. The Bible described Saul as the most handsome guy in all of Israel, significantly taller than anyone else, and broad shouldered. Simpy put, Saul looked the part. He probably looked like an athlete in their prime. And so when Jesse shows up and sees Eliab, he is looking for external markers of someone who looks like a king. But listen to what God tells Samuel next: “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

The Lord looks at the heart.

Again, this is not the only time we see this principle in the Bible. Jesus is going to talk about it three times in the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 6. He’s going to say when you give, don’t be showy about it for everyone to see, but be discreet. He then talks about prayer and encourages the crowd to not pray in a way that makes you look impressive in front of people, but it’s better to do so in private. He keeps going and talks about fasting, imploring us to not look somber and do so with a sad face so others can notice us, but do it in private, between yourself and God.

Why? Why does Jesus scaffold these three lessons on top of each other? He is saying, listen, we can do all of the right external actions, but if our motivation is to impress other people, we’ve got it all wrong. Jesus is, in a sense, echoing what we learned in 1 Samuel: The Lord looks at the heart.

Let’s address what this looks like practically and then we’ll talk about why this is incredible news for competitors. 

If God looks primarily at our heart, or our motivation, this means we glorify God by being increasingly aware of what is driving us, repenting when those motives are selfish, and pleading with God to help align our hearts with his. It doesn’t mean we don’t want to win or play to the best of our ability, it just means that both of those are not what primarily drives our actions. It means entering into the context of sport, whether its a practice or a game, with a heart that wants to embody the character of Jesus to those around us.

Remember, as we grow in our ability to look, think, and act in Godly ways, it increasingly reflects His glory in us and around us. And yes, hopefully that comes with a win or us playing or coaching well, but those are secondary wins. The first win we are after is a heart that says “I want my character to please God today above all else.” One practical way to remind ourselves to prioritize a Godly motivation is to utilize a focal point. A focal point can be anything. It can be something we write on our hand or shoe as a reminder, a watch, a wrist band, or even the lines on the field or court. Anything that we regularly see while we play. And the way this works is that when we see it, we are reminded to re align our motivation in that moment. It doesn’t need to take 5 minutes. It can be done in 5 seconds! There’s a stoppage in the action, you notice your focal point and you pray to God “Help me to play for your glory and not my own.” 

This is great news for all of us. Because we don’t need to win and have a microphone in our face and use a huge platform to glorify God. It means glorifying God through sport is accessible and attainable to all of us, at all times, regardless of what the scoreboard says and regardless of how much or how little we play. The world measures worth by wins and personal glory. God measures it by what’s happening inside our hearts. It means that we don’t have to be the best on the field, court, pool, track, whatever, to bring glory to God within the context of sports. We don’t have to be THE best to glorify God. 

But is being OUR best enough? Our final video will speak to that question. How is God glorified through our actions in sport?

Part One: Glory and Sport Series: What Does God Want Most?

Part Two: Glory and Sport Series: What is Glory?

Part Three: Glory and Sport Series: Giving God Glory Through Our Motivation

Part Four: Glory and Sport Series: Giving God Glory Through Our Actions