The same principles we use to achieve success in our athletic lives are transferable and relevant to our spiritual lives. And applying spiritual principles to secular living is the answer to the chaos and disorder of life. Christ (the anointing of the spirit) is the answer. Everyone wants to know how to solve chaos and disorder. If you are a spiritual athlete, you have something awesome to offer the world!
Spiritual athletes are walking advertisements of divine principles for successful living. The way you became a success in your sport is a blueprint for success in any area of life. All athletic training is inherently spiritual because it involves getting our inner being to compel our outer being to do what we want despite the pain. As a spiritual athlete you are God’s messenger to the world that the union of body and spirit works best when we use the spirit to control the body; when we use the invisible to control and define the visible. What we see comes from what we don’t. Athletes articulate this artfully, aesthetically, affirmatively, every time they compete or perform.
Sports teach principles for successful living.
Every sporting event is an educational opportunity, a teaching moment. It’s significance goes far beyond the bragging rights and other prizes that come with victory. It goes beyond civic pride to a blueprint for life the way it was meant to be lived. This is the value of sport in society and why all kids need sports in some way in their lives. And why so many of Paul’s illustrations about the spiritual life included references to athletics.
Kobe Bryant is super spiritual.
Any successful athlete is spiritual whether they realize it or not. I don’t know if Kobe is born again, I don’t know if he is going to heaven, but I know that God can and has used him to teach spiritual life lessons. Kobe has helped many parents raise and motivate their kids by providing an accessible example of how to overcome limitations, seize the moment, demand the best from yourself, and achieve your highest potential. He vividly illustrates the bold connection between hard work, focus, dedication, perseverance, and success. That’s spiritual stuff, whether he’s saved or not. Are you a spiritual athlete?
