Football and the Mission of God
Mission is not just one of a list of things that the Bible happens to talk about, only a bit more urgently than some. Mission is, in that much-abused phrase, what its all about. Our mission (if it is biblically informed and validated) means our committed participation as Gods people, at Gods invitation and command, in Gods own mission within the history of Gods world for the redemption of Gods creation.
The Mission of God Christopher Wright
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christs body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.
Romans 12:4-6
One of the more amazing aspects of the Christian journey is that we are allowed to take part in the divine mission of God. Think about it, God is all about His mission, as He has demonstrated throughout human history. In fact God is the first and ultimate missionary with his two greatest missionary acts being that he sent Jesus and provided for us the Bible. Therefore our mission flows from His mission. Now take that mega-idea and couple it with another: each person has been uniquely created positioning them to uniquely participate in Gods mission. Thus the talents or abilities that have been given to us are to be used to facilitate and further our involvement and influence in the mission of God. This means that whether you are athletically, artistically, or academically gifted then use those abilities to make Jesus famous. One of the greatest sources of encouragement we receive at Student Leadership University is to hear from alumni who have discovered their abilities and determined to use them as part of Gods mission. Recently an alumni named Taylor Morton who is a redshirt freshman playing football at the University of Alabama shared with me part of his story:
When I was eight years old, I became a Christian. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, but life went on as usual. I just played the Christian life. When I reached the eighth grade my life would change forever. My 12-year-old brother, Trent, was killed in a four-wheeler accident. Through that experience, God humbled me and brought me closer to Him. When he died, they found a card in his pocket that said Never, Never, Quit. The card challenged me, to never quit on life, God or anything else that came my way.
Today, I am a freshman at The University of Alabama; where the leadership I learned at SLU helped provide an opportunity to walk-on the football team. God blessed me with the opportunity to play for the University of Alabama. The impact SLU had on me as I learned tons of leadership skills are helping me make a huge impact on my campus and team.
One lesson that is constantly in my mind is the fact eagles always fly toward the storm. Here at Alabama there is a storm, a storm of non-believers who need Jesus Christ. God giving me the opportunity to play football has opened many doors for me to speak at churches and ministries around Tuscaloosa, AL. My goal is not to gain glory for being a football player, but to give God all glory and honor and praise from anything good that comes. Also, my heart is to see this storm of non-believers, have an experience with the one true and living God. I will not quit on my faith, football, or this campus. Thankyou SLU for the leadership skills you taught me. I am usingthem to IMPACT this campus for Jesus Christ!
Most would refer to Taylor as a football player, I would not, instead I think of Taylor in these terms: a young leader using football (i.e. his God-given abilities) to participate in the mission of God. My prayer for Taylor is that he continues to use football, among other things, to make Jesus famous. And my prayer for all the students who go on the SLU journey is that they would discover those certain things they do well, and then use them to participate in the greatest movement in the history of the universeChristianity.
Written by Brent Crowe (follow on Twitter)
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