God’s Top Athletes

God’s Top Athletes

Sports are a big part of life in almost every country. We appreciate athletes who win. We even develop a great deal of respect for certain players who are especially good at what they do.

However, if you wanted to perform as well as they do, simply observing, taking lessons, practicing, or even eating the same kind of food usually will not be enough to bring you up to their level. Probably, the only way for you to become as proficient as they are is to transplant an athlete’s mind into your head. For it is in the mind that true change begins.

The Bible tells us, “Actually (we) do have within us a portion of the very thoughts and mind of Christ” (1Coritnthians 2:16 TLB). It makes a lot of difference when you have Christ living in you. When we are born again, we “have been crucified with Christ: and (we ourselves) no longer live, but Christ lives in (us)”(Galatians 2:20 TLB). We experience a spiritual transplant.

I knew this when I accepted Jesus Christ. But I realized only later that I had to live a ‘daily crucified’ life. When Christ was crucified, His feet –which He had used to walk to needy people and help them-were immobilized, His hands-which He had used to touch many and bring healing and consolation-were nailed. His enemies thought, He would never again serve others with those hands and feet.

Not only did they immobilize Him; they mocked Him, telling Him to “perform another miracle” and come down from the cross. Though Christ had the power to perform any miracle, He suffered and listened to them. This is the crucified life.

Each of us need to live such a life daily. When we do so, we continue His work, enabling Jesus to walk and touch through our hands and feet. “When God the Father, with glorious power, brought him back to life again, you were given his wonderful new life to enjoy.” (Romans 6:4 TLB).

Christ’s hands and feet didn’t remain nailed. He lives inside the born-again believer, and He therefore has great potential. The Spirit of God gives us spiritual gifts and power. The Bible talks about understanding “how incredibly great his power is to help (us)” (Ephesians 1:19 TLB).

As a parent, I have seen how children reflect what they learn and inherit from their parents and environment. Parents have a role in the inheritance & development of talents, character and behavior. Likewise, when Christ comes to live within us. He begins to transform us. By the will of God, He is even now changing us from what we are by nature to what we need to be. God wants us to bear His character. God wants to work through us.

This means that our veiled character traits must be removed and replaced with good qualities. Our inability to love God and man must be replaced with the ability and strength to do so. Due to our learning and environment, all of us have instincts for various actions. Some of these are good, some are bad. We know which areas in our lives need cleansing and further development.

When we allow Christ to come into our lives, we become a combination of genes, training & plus, what God gives us as a result of accepting Jesus Christ. In the mystery of God’s grace, all these-heredity, genes, environment, training, and the spiritual component work together! The spiritual blessings God bestows on me work in harmony with what good qualities God has given me in my genes, environment and training. If I disregard the spiritual component, I lose a great deal and become deficient. This produces a myriad of problems. But God also works in myriad ways to bring about His will and work, despite our deficiencies.