"God answers my prayers everywhere except on the golf-course."
Kill him!
'I remember when I first came to England to play for Wigan, I used to get beaten up. My wife will testify to this that I used to come home every week with a black eye, cuts to the face ands bruises to the body, done deliberately.'I cried to the Lord, "what do I do, do I retaliate?" But he said, "No, No, No", Just stay focussed and I'll handle everything. And the guys who were beating me up when I first came, they are the same guys who are able to come up and shake my hands. They now thank me for the game and say, "Well played"'. Va'aiga Tuigamala, New Zealand Rugby player.
Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "it is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap Burning coals on his head" Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:14-21
Two things confuse us when we consider Jesus' summary of godly behaviour on the sports field when it comes to the issue of loving our opponent - our understanding of 'love' and our mental picture of 'opponent' So much sport is coached with the opponent as the enemy. You are not thought to be competitive unless you are swearing at the opposition all the time.
But wait! We need an opponent. If you have got yourself 'up' for a game, only for the opposition not to be able to raise a team or not able to get there because of traffic problems, it is such a let down. Quite simply – no opposition, no game! To take it a stage further we need an opponent of pretty much equal quality, really to enjoy our own performance. Winning a hockey match 10-0 is fun the first time. Winning 10-0 every week will soon become boring. We need an opponent of an appropriate standard. Sport lives by comparison. We define our own level of performance by testing it against the clock or our opponent. We need that competition to develop our God given talents.
People often think of love as soft, meaning that we cannot be loving and competitive. If I love my opposite number does that not mean that I have to let her score?
If we see our opponent, not as our enemy but as our neighbour, and moreover a neighbour whom Jesus tells us to love as ourselves, it certainly affects our attitude to the opponent. We treat our opponent in the way we want to be treated: with respect. We want a fair game. We want a good contest. We want our opponent to push us to perform at our best. People often think that being loving and being competitive is an 'either or' but in this setting love is to be competitive!
If I cannot love my opponent as myself, I cannot play sport for God's glory.