If everything we do is unto the glory of God, does that also pertain to even our sports? How do we apply our passion for sports and utilize it for the glory of God? In this message, Pastor David Platt guides believers into thanksgiving for talent as it leads to ever-increasing affection for the Giver of the gift. Our affection must not center upon the gift itself, but upon the One who gives it.
- Youth Sports Should Increase Your Affection For The Cross
- Giver Over the Gift
Watch Full Message Of “The Cross and the Christian’s Sports“
So before you begin to play any sport, before you begin to watch a sport, before you begin to do anything sports related, pause for a moment, either in your heart or, even better, out loud, and thank God for this gift that He’s given. This kind of thanksgiving brings lory to God. And when you’re thanking God continually and intentionally like this, you’re much less likely to turn sports into an avenue for self-centeredness or self-gratification, glorification. And in the process of thanking God, let the enjoyment of sports lead to ever-increasing affection for God.
Youth Sports Should Increase Your Affection For The Cross
All right, so when I give a gift to someone, I give it to them for their enjoyment. And as the giver of that gift, I’m honored when I see that person I’ve given a gift to enjoying it. So when I give my kids a gift, right now, it’s Legos for my five and seven-year-old boys. So whether it’s on a birthday or a reward for reading goals or whatever, Heather and I give them this gift, we are honored. Not when they take the Legos and put them to the side and just kind of say, “Thanks,” but when they light up and they dig into the box and they spend time enjoying the gift.
In the same way that when I receive a gift, my birthday, a few weeks ago, my kids got me a rain jacket because the jacket I had before just did not work anymore. It would rain. I’d put it on and I’d walk through the rain. I’d take a jacket off, and it was clear I had hardly been wearing a jacket at all. So they give me a rain jacket. So now, when it rains and I put it on and I walk through and I get inside and I’m dry, oh, my affection for my children just grows because of this gift that they have given me. My enjoyment of the gift they gave leads to ever-increasing affection for the givers.
So here’s the deal. When you play sports and you enjoy it, I mean really enjoy it, when you play sports, enjoy it. When you enjoy watching that touchdown scored, or that home run hit, or that three-point shot drained, let your enjoyment of this lead to ever-increasing affection for the God who gave the good gift to you in the first place. Yeah.
This is how we watch and play sports to the glory of God, with gratitude in our hearts to God. Don’t let your affection center on the gift; let your affection rise to the giver.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
