Thursday 3 February 2011

Football Focus


Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I play for a football team in a local Churches league, we train on Thursdays and hope to play matches on Saturdays. I say hope because the Welsh weather hasn;t been too kind and our game last Saturday was our first since Novermber 13th. Even then, we shouldn't really have played as the ground was solid. Anyway, football has taught me a few things about faith and I am going to share them.

  • When you lose concentration, you go off course
If I am driving a car and start looking to see if I know that person walking down the road, I will naturally steer towards in the direction of what I am looking at. This obviously isn't good! It is the same with football, when I'm daydreaming about things and not concentrating on the game I am not prepared for any situations I may face. Likewise, in our Christian lives when our thoughts are on other things than Christ we will steer in the directions of those things and not towards Him. If I am not focusing on Him, I will not be prepared for the situations and challenges I will face in life.

  • Confidence is everything
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Mark 9:23

  “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”

It is amazing how your performances in any of life's situations can differ with your belief, especially in football. In the professional game players can go from being worth millions of pounds to nothing, just by losing confidence and not playing as well. Even my performance can differ crazily from how confident I am in my abilities. Jesus said above that EVERYTHING is possible if we believe. No, 'I don't think I can do it', No 'I'm not good enough', No 'It's not my gifting'. YOU CAN DO IT. JESUS HAS PROMISED & GOD NEVER LIES!

Let's all have faith in Christ as we fix our eyes on Him. Especially me!

2 comments:

  1. I love this message Mike, though I have to admit I was a little worried at firt because I understand nothing about football! However I completely relate to what you are saying, I often feel the same but regarding other things.
    When align ourselves with God's will and purpose then that confidence just seems to grow and grow. Don't know if you find that too xx

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  2. I think you could apply it to any sport really, you will probably see what I mean in your running :-)

    Definately, God Blesses those who do His Will :-)

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