Wholeheartedness

'In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.' Luke 14:33

In the booklet 'Cricket - a Different Spin', John Barclay, former Sussex and Christians in Sport touring captain, tells a delightful story about a high jump coach who advised him to tell his players to 'throw their hearts over the bar' in order to win a particularly tight game. 'Sport,' writes John, 'like faith in Jesus, needs total commitment - with anything less we will disappoint ourselves and fail to achieve our goals.'

Another cricketing old Etonian, CT Studd, who was one of the famous Cambridge Seven missionaries over a hundred years ago, expressed the same level of commitment in a charming piece of doggerel. 'Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.'

When I was converted in 1969, I was given the booklet 'True Discipleship' by William MacDonald. I looked it up the other day. It is full of encouragements to whole-hearted Christian discipleship. Like this from Bishop JC Ryle: 'A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently a man of one thing. It is not enough to say he is earnest, hearty, uncompromising, thorough-going, whole-hearted, fervent in spirit. He only sees one thing, he cares for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing, and that one thing is to please God.' CT Studd responded to this priority by literally giving away his fortune and his fame. Leaving wife and family at home, he spent himself in Christ's service in the mission fields of China, India and Central Africa.

What is the godly response today for the sportsperson? Should we be like Charlie Studd, or Johnny Barclay who now runs a residential coaching school for largely underprivileged inner-city kids at Arundel Castle? What does it mean 'to give up everything'? Does it, for instance, mean that all of us who love sport should quit playing? It has often been understood in this way, especially if it involves Sunday sport. Surely, what Jesus is getting at is, 'A real disciple must give Christ full control over his whole life with everything he is and all that he possesses, including his wealth and his talents.'

We, who are passionate about our sport and our Lord, must be prepared to pray, 'Lord, I will only continue in sport if you want me to.' There is no point, absolutely no point, in the Christian doing anything which is outside God's will. Let us get to the point where we abandon all into God's hands; then he will lead us, some maybe to be missionaries and others to whole-hearted discipleship within the sub-culture of sport, which we seek to win for him. Perhaps, in a way, we will all then be missionaries.

Andrew Wingfield Digby  
Non-Executive Director, Christians in Sport

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