Athlete Identity Crisis: 30 Days to Understanding Your Identity in ChristSample

Anchored in Hope

It’s a cold morning in the early fall, and I am sitting on the sidelines waiting for the game to start. It’s my third season coaching youth football, and I’m well familiar with what’s about to happen. The field is wet, so there will be a lot of fumbles. The cold weather means at least half the team will have little interest in tackling. And the refs are the same ones from last week who, well, let’s just say they are doing the best they can.

In spite of all that, I’m hopeful that the team will surprise me and we’ll rise above the circumstances. Sports have to be played to figure out what will happen. It’s an experience grounded in hope.

As athletes, we are people who hope. We hope for a win, a personal best, a scholarship, and a championship. But in the unpredictable world of sports, hope is often fragile. Injuries halt momentum, losses crush our spirits, and unmet expectations can lead to deep disappointment. When hope is anchored solely in these external circumstances, the ups and downs of sport can make life feel like an emotional rollercoaster, potentially even leading to bitterness or a loss of joy. It’s like anchoring a boat to a buoy—wherever the wind and waves take it, that’s the direction we go.

For the Christian athlete, however, our identity in Christ provides a steadfast, unwavering hope that transcends all earthly outcomes. David declares in the Psalms, "For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him" (Psalm 62:5 ESV). It’s a reminder that our deepest, most enduring hope comes directly from God. Paul takes it a step further in his letter to the Romans, stating, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13 ESV).

This biblical hope is not passive wishful thinking. It's an active trust in God's character and His promises, especially when circumstances suggest otherwise. It means that even an injury or a devastating setback can be an opportunity that strengthens our faith and deepens our hope in God.

Let’s be clear about what this means in sport. We can still hope for a great performance. We can hope that all of our training will pay off. We can even hope that the refs will give us a favorable call (or two!). But having a greater hope that’s anchored in God protects us from putting all of our chips at the center of the table of sports. That will always be a risky bet, inevitably leaving us bankrupt.

Anchoring our hope in God is an open-handed posture of prayer declaring, "I hope this goes well today, God, but let your will be done, not mine." That's a scary prayer. But it's a freeing one, too. Because it means our identity in Christ gives us an anchored hope that sport can't take away. Beyond that, when our hope is in Him, the pressure to perform should decrease!

How do we remember this stuff during competition? One way is to incorporate mantras into our self-talk. Even something as simple as “the scoreboard shifts, the Savior stays” can help you recall this truth even in the midst of intense competition.

Athlete, we can play fast and free, knowing that whatever happens on the scoreboard, our eternal destination and God's love for us remain unchanged.

Questions to Consider: When facing significant athletic disappointments (like injuries or losses), where do you typically place your hope? How can anchoring your hope in God, rather than in athletic outcomes, provide a more stable foundation for perseverance and joy?