When I was coaching football I was blessed with an opportunity to help at an FCA Football Camp. During one of the coaches’ huddle sessions, our Huddle Leader said, “I tried to coach my players as if one of them would one day become my son-in-law.” That has always stuck with me. And in Mark 12:31, we read that this kind of advice is actually from God Himself.

In sports, it is so easy to slip into a win-at-all-cost mentality. As coaches, we start to view our players as nothing more than a means to an end. We want to win, and, in order to win, our players must perform in certain ways. They must do certain plays and be able to have certain skills. Our plays and their skills have to be better than the other team’s. With all of this resting on our shoulders, how in the world can we coach our players to win and base it on love?

If we go back to Mark 12:30, we see that there is just one thing more important than loving our neighbor as we love ourselves, and that is loving God with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind.

As coaches, we expect our athletes to do what we tell them to do. Jesus is the same way. He tells us to love God and tells us to love our neighbors. He doesn’t say, “When you feel like it, love your God and your neighbor. When you have time, love your God and your neighbor.” Like I said in yesterday’s devo, I’ve never read a verse where Jesus tells us to love God and our neighbors everywhere except when we’re practicing and playing sports.

As coaches and athletes, I pray that today we would be mindful of our calling to love those around us, no matter what the scoreboard says. May we put people before trophies and realize that life is about so much more than championships. It’s about love.