God's Coaching #71

God's Coaching #71

If you play sports, you probably have a rival. Somewhere out there, there’s a team or individual who beats you as much as, or more than, you beat them. They always seem to muddle your plans for a championship. Sound familiar? You are not alone. Throughout sports history, rivalries have existed.

One of Major League Baseball’s greatest rivalries is between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The NFL has the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys, the Chicago Bears versus the Green Bay Packers, and other longtime rivalries. In the NBA, no rivalry may go back as far as the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. College football has great traditional rivalries such as Harvard versus Yale, Michigan versus Ohio State, Alabama versus Auburn, and Oregon versus Oregon State. College basketball’s greatest rivalry may be Duke and North Carolina.

Sports rivalries exist at the individual level too. In the 1960s, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer consistently battled on the PGA Tour. Boxing gave us Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Tennis has produced great theater whenever Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer play. Rivalries certainly add excitement to sports, but sadly, they also produce plenty of unkindness. Rivalries often bring out the worst of our sinful natures and create a wall of hostility between players, fans, and entire cities.

What’s the Score?

In Ephesians 2, the Bible talks about another wall of hostility. For centuries, God’s chosen people, the Jews, thought they were better than Gentiles, or non-Jews, because God had given the Jews the sacred Old Testament Law and writings. First-century Jews often scoffed at Gentiles and assumed they couldn’t go to heaven. It was, in a sense, a rivalry between the two people groups.

But God didn’t want them to bicker and compete. Age, gender, and race don’t matter to him. Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection breaks down all barriers. He wants people of all ages, countries, and ethnicities to place their faith in him. The amazing truth of the gospel is that anyone can be saved! God’s love is bigger than any rivalry.

On the Ball

The next time you play your rival or see your rival around town, do something nice. Tell your rival you respect how hard he or she competes or what a good shot he or she has. Say you like playing against him or her. By striking up a friendship, you may one day be able to share your faith in Jesus with your rival.

Coach’s Comment

Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. Ephesians 2:14