Pros
update
07 February 08
PROFESSIONAL FOULS – ‘THOU SHALT NOT GET CAUGHT’? II
Last week I argued that even though professional fouls are rife in the
world of sport, Jesus’ work in the heart and mind of the Christian
player is to stop them being conformed to the world around them and
instead to transform them to live in a way that is pleasing to him.
Everyone else may be getting away with it when the referee’s back is
turned, your coach may urge you to do it, but God wants you to ‘act
justly’ so that others ‘see your good deeds and glorify God in the day
of his visitation’.
Now I’m aware that many Christian players may disagree with this point
of view – not least because I’ve battled with it myself over the years.
There are many objections from, ‘it’s an accepted part of the game’ and
‘there’s a difference between the written rules and the refereed rules’
to ‘I won’t be such a good player if I didn’t do it’. However I think it
helps to consider a little more closely the motivation that lies behind
the professional foul to see how different the Christian approach is.
Vince Lombardi once said ‘winning isn’t everything, it’s the only
thing!’ and this is the attitude that underpins professional fouls. One
of the great insights that the Bible gives us into why we do wrong
things is in the letter to the Colossians 3:5. When Paul is giving a
list of wrong attitudes he mentions one word in the Greek that gets
translated ‘evil desires’. The word actually means ‘over-desires’ or
‘excessive-desires’ and it’s the same word that is used in the last
commandment ‘do not covet’. This helps us understand that we do wrong
things not so much out of wrong desires but out of excessive desires.
Let me explain; wanting to win is a good thing (as I’ve argued before),
it’s one of the appropriate rewards for playing in a game, but when
winning is over-desired then it can cause you to cheat and even harm
your opponent to get it; similarly desiring to play well for the
reserves to break into the first team is fine – it’s part of the way
that team sport works, but if getting into the first-team is your
everything then you’ll do whatever you can to achieve it – whether it’s
taking-out another player off the ball or taking drugs to enhance
performance. We do wrong things not so much out of wrong desires but out
of excessive desires.
This helps us understand why players commit professional fouls; they
could play within the rules and accept the result, but winning’s so
important to them that they’d rather break the rules and win. Similarly
you can see why it’s a slippery slope from a professional foul to taking
performance enhancing drugs. After all if winning’s so important then
who’s to say what’s unjustified in attaining the gold medal?
Paul starts the chapter in Colossians by reminding Christians that
‘since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things
above’. He’s saying that the power to change and to be different in a
culture of professional fouls comes from getting your perspective right.
Fix your attention on Christ – remind yourself of the perfect life that
he lived for you and of the remarkable death that he died for you’.
Remember that all your wrong conduct on and off the pitch has been paid
for and forgiven. So by his power within you ‘do not be conformed but be
transformed’ and use all of the gifts he’s given to play at your best -
only do so within the rules.
Pete
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