ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

-1 Corinthians 10:31

This verse resonates so strongly with me and I find it truly sums up who I want to be for God. I want to do all things for His glory; I want to live my life for the glory of God. For the first time since I have come to know Christ and the knee injury the Lord used to bring me to Him, I am participating in a church softball league. Now, I have always been ultra competitive and the desire of my heart when I was participating in athletics was to be great at whatever sport I was playing; I wanted others to take notice of me and recognize how good I was with praise and recognition, trophies and awards. So, when I signed up for the church softball league, I was more than a little concerned at how I would behave on the field and where my heart would be. I wanted to have a heart set on Christ, a heart that desired only to glorify the Lord on and off the field, but I was afraid that my old self would come out, that I would seek the glory, praise and honor for myself and not for the Lord.

Because of the limitations I have with my knee and the fact that I hadn’t played softball in at least six years, I didn’t expect too much and I approached our first practice from a place of total humility. However, by the end of practice as I had received encouragement and accolades from others on the team, I found it to be more and more difficult to squash my pride and my hunger for glory. I noticed that prideful seed of darkness begin to take root and grow in my heart. Then during our third game of the season, I noticed that prideful seed had grown into a weed that was taking over and choking out the light. I found myself getting frustrated at myself and my teammates, getting angry at the official, comparing my athletic abilities to others and simply having a bad attitude in general. As I drove home from the game that night, I realized that I had a heart issue and that I was not doing all to the glory of God on that field. I contemplated quitting the league, but I knew if I did I would not confront and deal with my heart issue and it would only surface again the next time I tried to participate in any athletic competition; this weed was not going away unless it was taken out at the root. Yet, I knew that I could not overcome my prideful heart on my own, I had already tried and failed, but God can and He is. “My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:26) So, for the first time in my life, I am learning what it means to be a witness for Christ in athletics and what it looks like to do all to the glory of God on the athletic field. I am still a work in progress, but I am confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in me will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

So often, we long for that encouragement, praise and recognition from others. It makes us feel good when others acknowledge us, our efforts, and our abilities. But Paul reminds us who we are to seek to please in Galatians 1:10, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” My prayer for you today is that you would not seek after the praise and recognition from man, but would instead seek to do the will of God, bringing honor and glory to Him in all things and knowing your treasure awaits you in heaven.

COACH'S CALL TO ACTION

• Where in your life, are you not doing all to the glory of God?
• What would it look like to do all to the glory of God here?
• What is the weed that needs to be taken out at its root?

Copyright © 2009 Radiant Sun Life Coaching. All rights reserved.