Sportsmanship Should Be An Example Of Godly Respect Toward One’s Competitor
Word-of-the-Day: ‘<Jesus said, during the Sermon on the Mount,>”So, in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”’ (Matthew 7:12); ‘(15) For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. (16) Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. (17) Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.’ (1 Peter 2:15-17)
To many of us, especially us men, the most wonderful time of the year is upon us! Yes, it is the start of football. High school and college football already have a couple of weeks of games played, and this week we have the professional teams kicking off their season by having games almost every day, from Wednesday through next Monday. Sunday afternoons were sleepy times without football, but for the next six months or so most men will be at least in a cursory sense following the ‘oblate spheroid’ that is an American football flying through the air, at least on their TVs.
Full disclosure, I’m not into football as an armchair quarterback as I used to be, and so far, I’ve only watched the last several minutes of one college game (as it was interrupting the local evening newscast on Saturday) and the post-game highlights of a couple of the college teams I follow on Sunday afternoon, after we come home from church, had lunch in fellowship with others, and then sitting back and resting for the rest of the day. I watch games partially in glimpses, and if my team (the Steelers) is on a national broadcast, I may watch the game from kickoff to final whistle – but often with some ‘squirrel moments’ that gain more attention than the game itself.
As with baseball and football in years past, especially as a young boy who enjoyed growing up outside of Pittsburgh following the World Series-winning Pirates, the NCAA championship-competing Panthers, and the Super Bowl-winning Steelers of the 1970s, the one thing that stood out was the sportsmanship of the teams overall. There were those times when the benches cleared in a baseball game, or there was a ‘dirty hit’ on a football play, but usually, and the end of the games, there were handshakes and pat on the backs between the opposing players.
It was a level of respect between the players and the coaches, and though many teams continue to have this level of respect, there are more incidents that are ugly in nature; sportsmanship more often gives way to one-up-man-ship, where a team goes and tries to embarrass the other team, or ignores to handshake the other team’s hands, or tries to purposely injure an opponent not only for the rest of the game, but perhaps to end their career.
This did happen before, but it was rare and usually immediate condemned and corrected. Today, unfortunately, it appears that some of it is condoned and coached into the young players. We have the examples of coaches fighting other coaches and even players, parents tripping opposing players who are about to score, and high school players who refuse to shake hands before a contest. The examples that are supposed to be set by parents and coaches of Godly respect of one’s opponents are now examples of selfish indulgence, a ‘look-at-me’ approach that is an unfortunate reflection of society overall.
Selfishness and self-gratification are not what Jesus laid out in His Sermon on the Mount, or anywhere else in His Gospel message. The Sermon on the Mount, as a whole, is an encouragement of the opposite, to be selfless and be respectful to those who are around you and to those who you interact with. One may be more talented in one regard, or more wealthy or charismatic, but that does not make that person better than the one without those talents, wealth, or charisma.
Matthew 7:12 is a summation of the Sermon on the Mount in terms of the interrelationships we are to have, that the person we interact with many not have our talents, but we don’t have theirs, either, and while our physical and emotional needs may differ our Spiritual needs are the same – we all need Jesus and His Grace and gift of Salvation.
Selflessness is an understanding that the Lord did not provide our ‘time, talents, and treasures’ to be held tightly or over anyone’s head to shame them, but to use them to better the lives of others, directly or indirectly to the benefit of the Great Commission and bring the Gospel of Jesus to them, through our words and actions. It is knowing that, like sportsmanship, while we can compete with each other in a secular sense, in the Spiritual sense we should be teaming up with each other, taking care of each other’s needs, and respecting each other to benefit of Jesus and the body of His church.
We are free, especially in the United States, to do as we please – as long as we respect the rights and lives of others. Those who use their freedoms for evil often take advantage of others, for selfish gain or appeal. If we live for the benefit of each other and not of self, however, we learn how to respect each other, and we find that if we take care of our neighbor, they often reciprocate and take care of us when we need their help.
Often, people criticize the Christian who does good and holds Jesus and His Gospel high, but then when in need they come to that Christian for help. The response of the Christian should be to help that person, to both silence the criticism of that person as well as to provide an introduction of Jesus to them, so that they may be saved, as Peter states in 1 Peter 2:15-17. It is through showing them respect through our selfless restraint of firing back our criticisms that we can have them respond favorably to us and to Jesus.
While we are not to be pushovers, there are Godly ways to be firm and strong in stature in our meekness; in the words of President Theodore Roosevelt, ‘Walk softly but carry a big stick.’ While unfortunately we must be ready to defend ourselves physically, perhaps by carrying an actual ‘big stick’, the best defense of all is to carry the biggest stick of all, the Spirit and the Word of Jesus, and emulate Him through our actions and speech toward others. Jesus shook the hands of many who did not like Him, and some He won over to Faith, and it is worthwhile as His Disciples that we do the same.
