The Greatest Commandment in Sport: Why Love is More Than a Team Superpower
Following a conference championship in football, Texas Tech head coach, Joey McGuire told a sideline reporter “Our superpower is how much we love each other.” This phrase is not a new concept. South Carolina women’s basketball coach, Dawn Staley, mentioned that her 2024 national championship team was not the strongest roster but they loved one another. That was the difference maker. It’s been said in many post game pressers - love mentioned not only as a team philosophy but a competitive advantage. But is that true? Is the way in which teammates and coaching staff love one another provide some sort of edge over opponents?
The Greatest Commandment
There is no way to quantify the impact of love on a team in terms of competitive advantage. However, Jesus teaches that love is the greatest commandment, so it must have something to do with our flourishing as God’s image.
“[one of the experts in the law] asked [Jesus], ‘which commandment is the most important of all?’
Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31 NET
Jesus responds to the expert with Deuteronomy 6:4-5 which was recited morning and evening as part of Jewish worship (known as the Shema). As the Jewish community uttered this verse twice every day, the words were meant to center God’s people on the purpose of life: to love God in response to God’s faithful, loyal love towards them.
But Jesus takes the question a step further. Notice, the expert in the law asks for one commandment. Jesus gives two: Love God. Love your neighbor. Jesus adds Leviticus 19:18 “love your neighbor as yourself.” Perhaps, Jesus is saying loving God with your whole life includes outward love to those around you.
I learned a similarly important lesson from my mother about love. She would tell us on a regular basis: “I love you and remember love is an action word.” This was her response when her children flippantly said “I love you, mom” after they undermined her authority, distrusted her guidance, or flat out disobeyed. Her point: love is expressed by actions not just words. She was asking for love to be expressed through how we followed her voice when she asked us to pursue peace with one another, trust her guidance, and believe her commandments were given for our good. By the way, my mom was not asking us to earn her love. We knew we had her love already — the proof was in the way she sacrificed for us.
Jesus is teaching the same lesson: Love is an action word. Love for God is expressed through love for others.
Love is not a competitive superpower nor simply a mark of good team culture and chemistry. Love is what it means to be fully human. The greatest and most important thing you can do in life is love God and love others - not solely in words but in truth and action (1 John 3:18). If we want to live out our calling as Jesus followers, we need to create spaces for people to experience the love of God—including sport. Not for the purpose of competitive advantage but because it brings the Kingdom of God near.
Loving God In Sport
The following is not a score card to qualify you as a good Christian athlete or coach. Jesus has already qualified you. Walk in His love and allow the Holy Spirit to empower your love for God and others.
Be loved by God. 1 John 4:9-10
Sports culture often values performance and production as a means of earning adoration, love, and status. This can malform our understanding of love. Instead, be transformed by the love of God. God’s love is not earned but given as a free gift. God’s love for you is secure and not dependent on performance or emotions. Let your relationship with God define your worth and identity.
Love God with all your heart. Proverbs 4:23
The heart includes your will, emotions, and desires by which you make choices. James K.A. Smith writes “Jesus’s command to follow him is a command to align our loves and longings with his—to want what God wants, to desire what God desires, to hunger and thirst after God and crave a world where he is all in all—a vision encapsulated by the shorthand “the kingdom of God.” Take note of your desires in competition. Why is it that you compete? To love God with all our heart, we train our desires to reflect God’s glory rather than competing from misaligned motivations.
Love God with all your soul. Matthew 11:29
The Hebrew word for soul is ‘Nephesh’ which can simply mean life or a living, breathing physical being. Loving God with all your soul is a call to embody the life of Jesus in our own lives. We do this by centering our lives or nephesh around the love of Christ. Athletes and coaches know devotion. After all, ball is life right? To love God with all of our soul, we devote our lives to the love of God first and love of sport can come thereafter.
Love God with all your mind. Psalm 139:23-24; 1 John 5:20
Understanding God’s love helps us make wise decisions. Just as a game requires strategy, our minds require truth from Scripture to renew the way we view God, ourselves, and others. To love God with all our mind, we seek to understand God and the world through the lens of Scripture.
Love God with all your strength. 1 Peter 4:10-11
When we read the word ‘strength’, we may think of muscles or physical prowess. However, the word used in the Bible for strength can mean: might (or oomph!), power, ability, or great capacity. God has gifted you with incredible ability, capacity, and energy. Take note of the strengths God has given you. To love God with all our strength, we leverage our oomph, power, and giftings to love others for the glory of God.
Loving Others In Sport
Love your neighbor. Luke 10:29-37
Who is your neighbor? Jesus answers this question with a story in Luke 10:29-37 (“The Good Samaritan”). In this story, the neighbor is a vulnerable person in dire need of help. Like the characters in that story, we can become so consumed with our own worries and ambitions that we completely miss the teammate who is struggling. Are your eyes open to the needs of those around you? How has God resourced you to respond to them with genuine concern and care?
Love your enemy. Luke 6:27-36; Matthew 5:44
Jesus takes the challenge to love a step further with the command to love enemies. An enemy in sport can be an opponent, the governing official, the fans who hurl insults, or even the teammate who you are competing against for a starting spot. Sometimes we villainize our opponents instead of seeing them as an image bearer of God also in need of grace and mercy. Modeling Jesus – loving others requires giving up your right to retaliate. Be merciful as your God is merciful.
“Dear friends, if God so loved us, then we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God resides in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we reside in God and he in us: in that he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” 1 John 4:11-14
Our love both for God and neighbor is sourced from God’s incredible, overwhelming love for us. Love is an action word for God too. Great action was taken to restore the relationship between God and humans. Let us display this gift by seeking restoration in relationship with one another.
Let God’s love be your super power – energizing the way in which you live not because it’s a competitive advantage but because God wants you to flourish.
