"God answers my prayers everywhere except on the golf-course."
Giving 110%
I think of every part of my life as being Christian. God made me with the gifts I have. I do feel his pleasure when I kick a goal. Al Kennedy, Old Colfeians and Cambridge University.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth Genesis 1:1
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it Genesis 2:15
When we think of work we may well think of the place we go for forty hours a week to earn the money to live. The creation story shows us a much bigger and richer picture of work, by revealing a God who works and who, as the New Testament explains, sends his son into the world as a carpenter! Genesis shows God hands-on making the world we live in. God likes work!
Genesis 2:15 explains that the first way we are to please God is by using our talents to be at work in shaping his world for him. This is the work he has called us to do! If our sporting talents are a gift from God, then it follows that we are to use them to work for God's pleasure as we take care of that part of the world called sport. Our talent in sport is for his pleasure, and Paul elaborates on this in 1 Corinthians 10:31, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God , and in Colossians 3:23 where he writes whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men .
The verbs used in verse 15 are "work, take care of, cultivate". We are to have a share in God's creativity in cultivating his world. We were made to represent (or image) him in this by using of our creative gifts as an act of worship, to bring him glory. Think of the implications of that for our sport.
South African Olympic swimming Gold medallist, Penny Heyns, firmly believes this: "Swimming has in some ways been my 'classroom' where God teaches me so much about his ability and [to have] faith in him. I love the sense of satisfaction that I get when I've done a swimming workout or race, and know that I gave my whole being and heart to God in every moment of the swim. It's the best worship I can offer him. I remember once before an important race I was so tired that I just thought, 'I am going to swim up and down and praise the Lord and worship him through my talents', hoping that I could just produce a half decent time".
Be the unsung hero in your team, the person who, unnoticed, does all the vital but trivial jobs.