Don’t Waste Your Sports – When Your Team Loses

When you are a sports fan, there will be good days & bad days. For me, I am pretty fortunate to have teams that I have cheered for since being a kid that are fairly successful week-in-and-week-out. Just in case you’re curious my teams are the OU Sooners, LA Lakers, San Francisco Giants & San Francisco 49ers.

Well last night was a bad night for Niners fans. We got throttled by the Seattle Seahawks 42-13. It wasn’t the first or last bad night/day for one of my sports teams.

Whenever one of my teams loses, I am reminded of how far God has brought me along on this journey called sanctification. You see, when I graduated seminary in 2002, my beloved Sooners were dominating the college football world. They had won a National Championship 2 years before & were finishing every season with 0 or 1 losses. They were a great team. And the best part about it was they were beating Texas & Oklahoma State every year.

To my shame, idolatry had crept into my heart as a sports fan. How subtle it was! I began devoting so much time & energy into thinking about my teams, how they played, why they lost, etc. In fact, I have shared with people before that when whether my team won or lost would often determine what kind of day I would have.

It’s sad … I know. This should never be for one who professes to have Jesus at the center of his life! God was gracious enough to point out to me through a number of team losses & reading Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper that sports can be fun & enjoyable & a means of worship, but they should not control your life as they were mine.

Thus, I began a journey of fighting against those idols in my heart.  I didn’t stop watching sports all together, but did watch them a little less. I began working towards being the type of person who could enjoy watching sports as a special grace of God & an act of worshiping Him. & I have realized in recent years that team losses are just that: team losses. They don’t change God’s sovereign plan for the world. They don’t make the Great Commission more difficult to fulfill. They don’t change God’s purpose for the world. Whether a team loses or not really doesn’t matter.

And when I see my team gets throttled by a division rival, like I did last night, I am initially disappointed but then quickly turn my emotions to thinking how good it was for the other team.

I say all this not to brag on myself but to brag on God. He is faithful. Paul wrote, “& I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6). God has faithfully sanctified me in this area.

I still watch a lot of sports. I still love sports. I still get amped for my teams. But when they lose, God’s sovereignty is not challenged or diminished. A loss is an opportunity to rejoice with others in their rejoicing. & I am thankful to God that He has brought me to that place.