"Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing."
Performance identity
Return to the book list for this category.
JA Null, Newport Beach: Anglican House, 2024. ISBN 9798987802694
This is not a sports book per se but outlines the Christian view of identity which would be of immense help to any Christian sportsperson.
The subtitle, “the folly of striving for God’s approval” sums up the message of the book. Another one-liner which summarizes the book is: “the heart of the gospel is that we find our identity not in what we do for Christ but what Christ has done for us” or again “the heart of the Christian gospel is not personhood as problem, or personhood as achievement, but personhood as gift”.
Ashley Null is that unique combination, a scholar who writes well at the popular level. One example: “When we talk about grace as God's attitude to bring us into relationship, we're not saying God doesn't care about our conduct. We are saying that God cares about us enough to transform our hearts so completely that our conduct begins to fall in line with what our heart loves, God himself”.
There are many applications to sport such as: “Here's one of the things that I tell Olympians the day before the race: “I can't tell you whether tomorrow will be Good Friday or Easter Sunday but if it's Good Friday just because you're a Christian doesn't mean the nails won't hurt. But I can promise you this. God is a good steward of pain”.
Towards the end of the book there is another of those helpful Nullisms: “in short our calling is where we learn that God's love takes us on journeys we do not wish to go, makes us travel by roads we do not wish to use, so as always to take us to places we never wish to leave”.
Highly recommended.