RUN WITH PERSEVERANCE

Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.

1 CorinTHIANS 9:25

The 2025 National Football League season kicked off last night.

I am what I would consider a casual football fan. Anyone who knows me knows that I am infinitely much more passionate about baseball than football.

Nevertheless, in order to maintain some connection to football, each season I join a pool that picks the weekly winners. However, I usually lose interest midway through the season and end up making whimsical picks without even the slightest bit of research, which accounts for my abysmal record by season’s end.

And readers should also be aware that I grew up in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Therefore, even though I live in Ohio, my heart is with the Steelers. The Browns rank a distant second in my personal popularity poll. If you are a Cleveland fan, I give you permission to stop reading now.

As a youngster, I didn’t develop an interest in the Steelers until sometime around the late fifties, when they hired a coach named Buddy Parker, who had won a couple of championships with the Detroit Lions. Parker brought with him some of his notable Lions players – namely, quarterback Bobby Layne and running back John Henry Johnson – and had moderate success with Pittsburgh.

But this was a decade or more before the Steelers would become winners of six Super Bowls, four under the legendary Chuck Noll, who forged a legacy of greatness for the franchise.

I covered sports as a radio and television broadcaster for several years in the Cleveland area before entering ministry, which often made it a challenge to have a religious conversation that didn’t involve some discussion about a particular game or a player. The Bible would often take a back seat to the Browns.

It took several years to put that past behind me. Yet even today I have to make a concerted effort on occasion to move a conversation away from football to faith. More than once, I have had to firmly remind someone as we are about to process into our worship service that this is not the time to ask me who do I think is going to win this afternoon’s game.

Football wasn’t around in biblical days, but sports was nevertheless a big part of the culture of that time.

The apostle Paul quite often uses boxing, running, and wrestling as a metaphor for the Christian journey.

He calls attention to boxing just a few verses after the one already mentioned above from First Corinthians.

So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air, but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified. (1 Cor. 9:26-27)

And the metaphors are scattered throughout his other letters:

…let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us. (Hebrews 12:1)

And in the case of an athlete, no one is crowned without competing according to the rules. (2 Timothy 2:5)

Though it’s hard to imagine Paul as an athlete, he was, of course, familiar with the Greek culture, where the Olympic Games had their start. Thus, one way to make a connection with those new to Christianity was through sports.

As he himself said,

“I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.” (1 Cor. 9:22)

In the same manner, it’s not a stretch in today’s sports crazy society to use the same entry point into a faith discussion.

Purpose, perseverance, and discipline, three interrelated themes in both faith and sports, are parallels one can equate with the Christian life.

One recent development that can’t escape notice is that athletes seem to be speaking more openly about their faith.

Many will begin a post-game interview on television by giving praise to God. Some will make the sign of the cross, usually after some remarkable play. Others write scripture verses somewhere on a noticeable part of their uniform, usually their shoes. Still others will kneel in prayer on the field when a teammate is injured or at the end of a game.

I imagine an athlete is keenly aware that such statements involve risk, because they must also be backed up by a commitment to live out their faith with consistent behavior both on and off the field, and not just in front of the cameras. Therein lies the true test.

In any case, I am pleased to see the upsurge in the number of athletes who are taking advantage of their popularity to inspire others through their witness.

In these turbulent times in which we live, it’s refreshing to see these athletes give expression to their faith. It’s a welcome contribution to that gaping void of faithfulness in our society.