Unlocking Your Potential as an Athlete

Every good athlete wants to become better. It’s almost as if it is ingrained in them and what sets them apart: A good athlete wants to be the absolute best version of themselves on and off the field.

Because we are all created in God’s image (Gen. 1:27), we each have the potential for greatness hidden within us. The question is, will we seek God to unlock that potential?

Think of it this way: Our potential is a protected lock and key box with a God-shaped hole. His key is the only one that can fully unlock it and release what He has stored for us. He created that lock and key box when He knitted you together in your mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13). Each gift that He wanted you to have, He placed in that box. Sometimes we try to unlock the box ourselves or force a foreign key into the slot, but nothing opens. God is the only One who can open this for us. John 16:13 says the Spirit of Truth guides us into all the truth. This is where we have the chance to trust Him in His guidance.  

What would happen if we chose to allow God to turn the key in His timing? What would happen if we stopped trying to force things to happen on our own and instead just trust?

The greatest success any person on this earth can experience is the success that comes from obeying God.

Let’s equate this with a few examples from basketball:

Points

When God calls out to you, do you listen or reject Him? Listening and obeying Him produces the feeling you get when you sink a shot. It’s hard getting the basketball up and down the court. You’ve got defenders everywhere; other players are constantly trying to steal the ball from you or block your way. Yet you work through it to take the open shot. We can weave our way through the distractions of the day to make sure we are in a good position to listen for the Lord and respond to what He is saying.

“For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. And His commands are not a burden, because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.” -1 John 5:3-4

Rebounds

What do you do when life gets sideways or you make a mistake? Do you stand there and get stuck in it? Do you sin again? Or do you confess and repent? Staying stuck in your mistakes would be the equivalence of missing a shot on the court and just standing there while the game continues around you. How wasteful would that be?

Through Jesus, God invites us to turn to His love and grace, while confessing our miss and making a decision to move forward with Him.

“For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.” -Romans 5:10-11

Assists

How do you treat those around you? Your families, friend circles, other athletes on your teams, your peers? Are you selfless enough to assist them in their time of need or are you playing a selfish game?

We are better when we are better together. God gives us people to surround and support with His love, truth and encouragement. The more we can build one another up, the stronger our faith becomes and enables us to seek the Kingdom of God with willing and open hearts and help others along the way.

“For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.” (Galatians 5:13)

If you want to unlock your potential as the athlete God has made you to be, let Him in. Give Him access to your mind, body and spirit, and allow Him to shape you into being more like Jesus. When we let God turn the key, our greatest potential in Him comes out in incredible ways.

LIVE IT OUT:

“’He must increase, but I must decrease.’”

-John 3:30