Undivided, straightforward, sacrificial focus for good. That is what I mean by warrior instinct. It’s a summary of the character Paul refers to beginning in 2 Timothy 2:3 — the character of a “good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Elaborating on the soldier metaphor, Paul tells Timothy, “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” Get this: Paul, the experienced missionary, encourages Timothy, the young pastor, with the example of a warrior. What exactly is that example? It’s focus. Warriors don’t get distracted. They don’t get caught up with the wrong things. They are clear about their aim. Life and death are on the line.

Following Jesus often feels the same way. Some next steps — like salvationor marriage — are like the big play that makes it to the highlight reel on SportsCenter. But other next steps feel more like first downs—not sexy but still moving us closer to the goal of becoming more like Jesus. Two Practical Lessons a Christian Can Learn From Football 1. Small choices now can lead to highlight moments later. Then for fans, on Friday, June 30, BYU will have a “BIG Countdown” at the Student Athlete Building at 11:30 p.m. to ring in BYU’s new life as a member of the Big 12. This Saturday, from 3-6 p.m., BYU is holding “the BIG Party” to celebrate BYU officially being in the Big 12 Conference.This eye on eternity becomes important, then, no matter what we’re doing—playing football or watching it, or driving the kids to practice. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:23-24). This is the real game. This is the real goal. do ask for God’s help. With pre-game prayers and the “Tebowing” some players do, we might assume that both sides are angling for divine favor. With God on your side, how can you lose? As a Psalm says, “With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies” (Psalms 108:13). But you might be correct in wondering whether God really stands on one side or the other. Does he really care whether the Saints or the Lions come out ahead? (Maybe that’s a bad example.) We shouldn’t see these as three unrelated illustrations, but as one total, connected picture of what it means to be a good soldier of Christ Jesus. In a similar way, Doug Wilson notes that all the “overwhelmingly positive” metaphors of sports and war in the Bible point to the same characteristics of “discipline, sacrifice, hard work, focus, intensity, and so on” (“Empire, Sports, and War,” 292).

Be Prepared! It’s not about winning, it’s about being prepared. Being prepared is being ready when God opens doors. Having a passion to prepare will help you face the battle as an athlete so that challenges are embraced…never feared. Retired professional footballer Linvoy Primus, who played for Portsmouth, Reading and Charlton Athletic, saw a change in his career after he converted to Christianity.“Playing football was my dream, but at 27 or 28 I realised it wasn’t giving me everything I hoped it would give me,” he said. The FA’s Faith and Football programme will see special events take place with other faith communities in the coming months. As part of the initiative, it held an online webinar with the Religion Media Centre to discuss the links between football and Christianity.Why? Because while “warrior culture” is dangerous, warrior instinct is endangered, and football stands as one of the last bastions of its enduring good. What Is Warrior Instinct? We need this warrior instinct more than ever because it’s increasingly rare in our society. We don’t have to look far to see that the ambition for an undivided, straightforward, sacrificial focus has been compromised by a distracted, weaselly, self-obsessed directionless. The studies are out and the articles have been written.

Sitake opened his talk with a “Go Cougs” message to those attending the Marriott Center and later said, “It’s going to be one of those talks.” As a young assistant football coach this scene made a powerful impression on me, not just as a coach, but as a man following Christ. Like Paul, I cannot think about my Christian walk without noting the obvious parallels to lessons learned from athletic competition. Here, I hope to point to some lessons from sports that I have been able to leverage for spiritual growth. My hope is that these examples will help you to think more intentionally and profitably as a Christian about your interaction with sports and doing so will be a catalyst toward sanctification. My Christian faith is based on making a difference, of serving that model we have of Jesus during his 33 years on this earth.”Strong affiliations in football have sometimes been linked to religious rivalries, but Ms Pepinster hopes such sectarianism is disappearing. Football is also a team game that demands individual practice. Every player has a specific role that, when executed properly, leads to team achievement. And that proper execution is the result of extreme training. Behind every move of every player is hours of work — of drills and sweat and pain — that ultimately targets one thing: team wins. Seriously. Make no mistake about it. Integral to football is real, tangible moments when personal comfort yields to a greater cause. The team wins because the team members sacrifice. They wear out their bodies for something bigger than their pain. The More Perfect Display What is the heart of the Christian faith? Our central mission? Today we meet Jesus at the very end of Matthew’s Gospel. A lot has happened in 28 chapters. Jesus was born. He lived an incredible life. Then he died. Three days later, he rose from the grave. He was healed and whole and every inch the Savior his disciples hoped he was—and then he told them to go to Galilee and wait for him there.

Jesus sees their doubt. He knows that when we doubt we have a choice between obedience and disobedience. When we doubt, obedience is not not doubting. Sometimes we will have doubts—it is part of the Christian life. Yet when we doubt, do we continue to obey? Do we put ourselves in places where God can continue to speak to us—in our small group, at church, in prayer, in Scripture? Even though the disciples are struggling with doubt, they have already obeyed Jesus by coming to the mountain in Galilee to meet with him. They need help with their unbelief. We often see or hear stories of how someone invited a friend to church and his or her life was changed. The stories are celebrated and all of us would like to impact someone’s life in a similar way. It takes small steps of obedience to be prepared. It can be as simple as memorizing one verse and being prepared to share it in the moment. Many small acts of obedience lead to the highlight moments. When you go on the field you concentrate on the game but there’s so much more going on besides,” he added. A chaplain’s role was best summed as “pastorally proactive and spiritually reactive”.

She said: “He has said very publicly that he’s driven by his personal experience of growing up in poverty but also by his faith.It isn’t just for the headlines. There are a lot of other players putting their faith into practice at a local level really quietly, but really brilliantly.” King Saul echoed the thoughts of every general manager, coach, and fantasy football enthusiast when he said, “Find someone who plays well and bring him to me” (1 Samuel 16:17). He was actually looking for a musician, but he found young David, who turned out to be a pretty good athlete as well.