Values Rooted in Christ

READY

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” -- James 1:22 NLT

SET

Throughout my career as both a coach and player, identifying the team's core values has always been a part of the first meeting of the season.

Some years, the coach would put four to five words in front of the team and empower their athletes to live by them. Other years, the team and the coaches came up with words together that would be the values to live by that season. There are few times I can remember where our team did more than hear the words and actually lived by them in our daily walk. It seemed like a good idea to have core values, but if we weren’t living those values outside of sports in our daily lives, oftentimes, we forgot them in our field of play. Sometimes, we lived them on the field of play but didn’t apply them to our daily lives.

Throughout the New Testament, Jesus taught us to love God and to love others.

He valued those two things, and it could be seen in His daily walk. If we look to the Bible for what our values should be, we can sum them up to loving God and to loving others. When your values mirror Jesus’, it does not matter what words are given at the beginning of a season. What matters is that you will already be walking in them through Christ. Integrity, honor, trust, and commitment in the competition are easy when your values are loving God and loving others.

As Christian competitors, be empowered to not only listen to the Word of God but also to value it. This is where real impact takes place and significance occurs.

GO

• What are your values? 
• Do the values you have work on and off your field of play?
• How can we live out our values in sports and our daily lives?

WORKOUT

Matthew 22:36-40; Luke 6:31

OVERTIME

“Father God, help us to read Your word and learn what You would have us value in life. Let us live those values in sports and in life. Amen.”

Ke’Sha Blanton

Ke’Sha is currently the Associate Head Coach at Oakland University for the women’s basketball team, Rochester Hills, Michigan. Ke’Sha grew up attending FCA Camps in the early 2000s and graduated high school and became a counselor for the camps. Ke’Sha started the first FCA Chapter at Central Catholic high school in Toledo in the 2003 – 2004 school year.