I am not against sports. I enjoy watching my favorite teams play, and I hope my alma mater, Michigan State, wins the NCAA championship. But I do wonder how many social and political problems are exacerbated by the prevailing mindset that defines nearly everything from business to politics in terms of winners or losers.
For centuries, athletics has been upheld as a way to build character and promote teamwork. But these days, those who uphold the virtue of playing fair even if it means losing sound naïve and old-fashioned. Instead of hearing about coaches and parents who comfort players and children with the phrase, “It’s not whether we win or lose that counts, it’s how we play the game,” we are more likely to read about parents behaving badly on the sidelines.
Let’s be honest, the primary goal of competitive sports is not physical or moral fitness; it’s superiority, an attitude that has no place in Christian thinking. Our attitude is to be that of Christ himself, who made himself nothing and took on the nature of a servant (Philippians 2:5-7).
By coincidence, we are also witnessing this weekend one of the most divisive political battles in my memory. If predictions are correct, one side will “win” by a very narrow margin. But what kind of a win will it be? And what will it prove? That the winner is right? No. That the winner is better? No. Only that the “winner,” at least for the moment, is more powerful. All the “winner” will really win is bragging rights. And I don't know of anyone who thinks we need politicians on either side feeling even more superior than they already do. That's the problem with most of them already.
As I witness the increasing polarization of our culture, the church included, I'm concerned that our favorite pastime—with its emphasis on winning at all costs—is pulling us ever further into a moral morass rather than strengthening us to rise above it. It seems as if our obsession with sports and its "winner-loser" way of thinking is causing us to think of others as evil just because they disagree with us. I do not see how that fits with the biblical instruction to “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3).
In ancient Greece, home of the Olympic games, supremacy over others through athletic prowess was highly esteemed. In a letter to people living there, the apostle Paul made clear that his goal was not to win races but to win hearts and minds for Christ. To illustrate, he used a metaphor they all understood—sports. But he didn’t equate it with Christianity; he used it to show the foolishness of expending so much energy on something temporal.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. (1 Corinthians 9:25)
The madness of this March weekend is shouting at us to look beyond the basketball court, beyond Washington, and to see the harm being done to our souls when we think of everything in terms of winners and losers, and my side versus the other side. After all, Christianity is not about defeating our opponents; it’s about getting them to join our team—not by force but by love.
