Eric Liddell lessons

Many people have argued that you cannot be a Christian and a successful athlete.  They say this because they say that you cannot have the "killer instinct" that is needed in order to be a successful.  Not only has Eric Liddell proved this to be true, but so have many athletes, including Tim Tebow.  These guys won constantly, and it was their desire to glorify God that motivated them.  Below is more explanation on why Christians actually ahve advantage as athletes.

1.  "With God, all things are possible."

2.  "If God is for us, who can stand against us?"

3.  Eric Liddell was motivated to succeed because he understood that the more He succeeded, the more people would want to listen to him.  He understood that success would likely provide increased opportunities for people to listen to him and allow him to share the gospel.  I can't think of any better motivation to succeed.  That in itself should help us to have the drive needed to win.  It should provide is the confidence and motivation to do what is necessary to win in a manner that glorified Christ.  It is tremendous motivation to do what you need to to win so that you can have the opportunity to accept the win and give all the glory to God.  And in the process, this could very well mean sharing Christ with others.

4.  You can have a "killer instinct" in a way that glorifies God.  It comes from confidence and motivation like King David had.  Confidence in abilities God has blessed you with, confidence in fact that you have worked hard to develop those skills, and an attitude which is absent of all fear, and a confidence that visualizes the victory and expects the victory to happen.

5.  Practice time should be motivated by desire to glorify and worship God.  Drive in practice should be there to get better to increase chance that you will win and be able to glorify God as a result big winning.

6.  Important that our attitude in completion also represents Christ well.  If I go out and am fearful, not strong and confident and fearless, then my witness will suffer.  "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of confidence".  Having the proper attitude and confidence is a big part of worshiping God in the process.


There will always be a ton of sport psychology mentalities and strategies, but it is important that those strategies are always seen through the lenses of glorifying God.  The Bible should be my first resource when it comes to thinking about attitudes and mentalities in sport.  Don't complicate things.  For instance, the Bible says be confident and don't fear.  It doesn't go into all these different strategies for how to be confident and not fear...It is simply a commandment that we must follow because of who God is.  Sport psychology strategies often provide methods with steps for how to be confident and not fear, but as a follower of Christ, He simplifies it for us.  He gives us the commandment and we can rely on His strength.  And again, we can follow the commandment because of who He is, and because He provides us the strength to do it.

Surrender

I need to be realistic with the goals I set.  If I don't have time or they don't fit with my family life, then setting them will only cause frustration.  Set realistic goals enjoy pursuing them, surrender results to God and ask Him to use them as He sees fit.  Ask Him to make something special out of my efforts which will glorify Him, not me.

In times of stress or feeling overwhelmed it is important that I put things in perspective.  I should make sure that I realize that things could be worse, and I should look for the things that are positives and that I can be grateful.fornin those situations.

Aspects to focus on to make sure I am glorifying God

http://swingingbridge.messiah.edu/2013/02/what-does-competing-for-gods-glory-actually-look-like/

The article above is where I got these ideas to reflect upon. This is what I learned...

1.  Glorifying God is in the process, not.the results.

2.  Give the results to God and allow Him to use them as He sees fit.  Seek Him for what your part is in the process, but make sure that you are allowing Him to use them.

3.  Make sure your effort is coming from a place of worship.  Rely on Him and His strength, not your own.  Work hard, but rely on His strength to do it.  You cannot accomplish anything without His choosing to bless your efforts.

4.  Anxiety is the opposite to worship.  Just like it says in God's Word, you cannot add a single moment to your life through worry - in fact it is the opposite.  The same principle/teaching can be applied through sport.  You only hurt your game with anxiety.  You should be focused, but not anxious.  Trust God with the results and enjoy the process of worshiping Him.

5.  Since the worship comes through the process, this means I don't have to be stressed, I don't have to worry about failures in the past where I choked (but rather I can simply learn from them for how to improve for next time - which is again, part of the process of worship)

5.  Don't focus on past or current accomplishments.  They are empty potential and can lead to pride.  Pride causes people to run from you while humility causes people to respect you.  It is okay to look at past accomplishments and be that kfuk for them and to gain confidence through them, but I must not allow them to become pride.  That is abusing the blessing God gave through allowing the accomplishment.  I must give Him the glory, and all of it, always.

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