As athletes, coaches, and sports fans, how often do we strike up conversations about our favorite teams or sports? If you’re like me, I could talk for hours about my passion for endurance sports or even my love for the Atlanta Braves. But how often does the Lord creep into those same conversations with friends, coworkers, teammates and family members? The truth is that many of us like to stay in our little boxes and only speak about the Lord on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. I have to remind myself that the “Great Commission,” given by Jesus Himself, didn’t give any timetable or day of the week.

After defeating Sonny Liston to win his first title in 1964, Muhammad Ali proclaimed to the press, “I am the greatest!” The sports world has given Wayne Gretzky the nickname, “The Great One.” But what exactly does it mean to be great? Is it determined by winning percentage? Championships? Fame? In the passage above, Jesus explained that greatness is being a servant. Today, I’d like to focus on three ways to serve your teammates:

If you had to guess, what would you say is the hardest thing to do in sports? Win a national championship? Go undefeated for a season? Maybe just winning your conference if the competition is tough. Or, you could say it is an individual action like sinking a hole-in-one or hitting a 90-mph fastball. To be honest, though, I would have to say that none of these is the hardest thing to do in sports. I personally think the toughest thing we can do is to play and coach like Jesus.

Now, hopefully we all understand that competing for and like Christ doesn’t involve being a doormat. The Bible I read doesn’t tell me to be a pushover for the competition. If we look at the verses from Philippians 2:1-4, we see a description of how we are to compete for His glory.