Day 2
God’s goals for me as a competitor are to play to honor Him and to live to honor Him. I am to bring Him joy in all I do – on and off the field of competition. That is the challenge.
Warm-Up
What do you need to do in order to become the best athlete you can be? What specific goals would you need to set in order to achieve this? In order to play at your best, you need to set goals in areas of your life other than sports. List some goals in the following areas of your life: athletics, academics, and spirituality.
Workout
- Have you ever experienced setbacks in reaching any of these goals? Have you experienced victory in reaching your goals? What sacrifices have you made in order to draw closer to your goals? You’ve heard the phrase “No guts, no glory.” There are sacrifices to be made if you want to accomplish great things.
- Have you ever sought a position of status (class president, team captain, valedictorian, etc.)? Why are these positions of status so important to you? Did you go down in a “blaze of glory,” or did you accomplish what you set out to achieve?
Read Matthew 20:20-28
“Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons approached Him with her sons. She knelt down to ask Him
for something. ‘What do you want?’ He asked her.
‘Promise,’ she said to Him, ‘that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right and the other
on Your left, in Your kingdom.’
But Jesus answered, ‘You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am
about to drink?’
‘We are able,’ they said to Him.
He told them, ‘You will indeed drink My cup. But to sit at My right and left is not Mine to give;
instead, it belongs to those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.’ When the 10 disciples
heard this, they became indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them over and said,
‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and the men of high position exercise
power over them. It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become
great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be fi rst among you must be your
slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a
ransom for many.’ ”
- What goal did the mother have in mind for her sons? Would you have wanted to be one of her sons at that moment? Why or why not?
Mom wanted her sons to have favor and greatness with Jesus. As athletes we get sucked into the same agenda, striving for favor and greatness. The competitor in each of us wants to be greater than our teammates and opponents. In verse 26, Jesus reveals to us how to become great: “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.”
- How can we find favor with Jesus? Verses 27 and 28 tell us that “whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many.”
- How do we become great, on and off the field, in His eyes? How can we serve Jesus today? What does the passage reveal about His goal for each of us? How can His goals for you bring Him glory?
- What do you really enjoy doing? When are you “in your glory”? Why? How do you feel in these situations?
Read Luke 10:38-40 - “While they were traveling, He entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, ‘Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.’ ”
Mary and Martha were both serving, but Martha became distracted from His goal. On the other hand, Mary was serving through simply spending time with Jesus.
- Which can you relate to more, Mary or Martha? Why? Which one brought more glory to Jesus? When it comes to your regular, daily life, how can you bring glory to God? How can you bring glory to God when you practice? In competition? In your relationships with family and friends?
Cool-Down
FCA’s Competitor’s Creed states:
I compete for the pleasure of
my Heavenly Father, the honor of Christ
and the reputation of the Holy Spirit.
It’s about God. It’s all about serving.