How to Be a Happy Sportsperson: Game DaySample

You must finish off your opponents when you’re in control of the game or race. If you don’t, you will live to regret it. Drive home your advantage, and do not hold back. There is no room for sympathy. It’s all about getting the win.

This sporting norm makes for uncomfortable reading if you want to accept Jesus' statement that you find happiness by being merciful. If sport is all about winning, and winning requires being ruthless with your vulnerable opponent, how can this leave the Christian any scope for offering mercy?

The answer is that what Jesus means by being merciful is the refusal to take revenge.

This definition changes the whole dynamic of our conversation. You will likely encounter a situation today where somebody says or does something to you or a teammate that is out of order. Jesus' point here is that happiness is found by refusing to take vengeance. This response requires spiritual strength since it is counter-intuitive to let opponents get away with wrong behaviour.

This capacity to decline revenge is a consequence of developing the character of a disciple of Jesus, something that only comes through Jesus Christ’s work in you.

You begin by becoming more aware of your humble and sad state before God. You become less likely to be angry when people point out your failings since you know you're much more fallible than they know. Then, you'll be thrilled that despite the situation you find yourself in, God sent his Son to die so that you could be forgiven and have his Spirit come and live in you, providing a new power for becoming more and more like your ruler, Jesus Christ.

Once you acknowledge your own natural tendency to moral failure, you find it so much easier to identify the tragedy of the human condition and that we are all so deeply flawed and need God's help. This realisation leads to pity for others caught in this trap and leads to the point where you are less likely to become angry and want to take revenge on others when they wrong you.

The capacity to be merciful is a supernatural gift from God, and you can only do this because you have been “shown mercy”. The happiness of having God's love and ongoing support in your sporting career is that God gives more and more mercy as we need it. This change is impossible through human effort.

As you prepare for today’s sport, think about how Christ is present with you when you are unjustly treated, whether verbally or physically. God will help you to be patient with the perpetrator since he has shown you that the brokenness of the human condition is something to be pitied, not a cause for your revenge. Remember that God has been merciful to you, and a mark of his grace is your growing capacity to show mercy to others, however much they offend you.

Pray for yourself

Lord, I thank you that you have shown me such mercy and kindness. I do not get what I deserve because of the work of Jesus and your love so clearly seen on the cross. In response to the mercy shown to me, help me now to be merciful in my sport. In whatever circumstances I need to show mercy – allow me to do that. Thank you that you will be with me in all circumstances – that you can give me patience and kindness when a wrong is done to me. Help me, Lord, to show mercy as you have shown me. In your name, Amen.

Pray for your friends.

Finally, take a few minutes to pray for your sports friends and colleagues - that God will open a door for his message in your club or team.