Who are you trying to please? There are so many
possibilities. Is it the coach, the crowd (if you are lucky enough
to have one!), your boss, yourself? Of course it is right to want to
please the boss. That is what you are employed to do.
Dirk Heinen has played football for several top German clubs,
currently Stuttgart. He summed it up like this
“My motivation as I have already said is to live my life in a
way that pleased God. So when if I play in a stadium and there are
80,000 spectators, I still think, there is actually only one that I
would like to please. His name is Jesus”.
Now much of the time there is no conflict. We can do what our boss
wants and please God at the same time. Remember the
Jewish boys in Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They happily
served the king of Babylon. They were senior officials in a
Babylonian province and happy to be there. Then suddenly an issue
arose where they had to draw a line. King Nebuchadnezzar announced
that everyone had to worship an image of gold that had been set up.
The lads went about their daily business. They worked hard for the
king but they had to draw the line here. They would not worship the
image.
When they were called to account by the king, they explained:
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O
Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in
this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we
serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your
hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king,
that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you
have set up. Daniel 3:16-18
Here was a situation where they knew that God was King and that he
demanded obedience. They knew they must remain loyal to him however
great the pressure to compromise. That loyalty and obedience
involved both doing what God had said – remaining faithful to him –
and not doing what God had told them not to – worshipping the image
of God.
 As
we live for Christian in the world of sport, the challenge is the
same. We are to live by God’s standards of love, integrity,
honesty. On the field we are to play with fairness, not trying
to con the officials, not shouting ‘my ball’ when we know it isn’t,
not pulling the opponent’s shirt on the blind side of the officials.
Off the field we will treat people with integrity and respect. We
will treat sex as a gift from God and accept his rules.
This story shows us how we, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego can
refuse to compromise in the face of extreme pressure because we know
that God is King.
Also in this series on Daniel
Drawing the line
Not getting carried away
Master yourself
Life's a rollercoaster
The long haul
Things that last
Making a
difference An
audience of one
He
could never become a Christian
Does it matter?
Being there for
Christ Writing
on the wall |
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