What's your motivation?

[cbluejays]

I suppose this will be more of a personal rant than anything...

As many of you may know, basketball is a huge part of my life.  Starting in 9th grade, I quit all other sports to focus on it...I've played it year round since 9th grade, and am now entering my senior year of high school.  The past year, all my hard work paid off, as I had a good season, culminating in a trip to the state tournament.  I was also the only underclassmen to start on my team, and was named honorable mention all-state as well as having quite a few college basketball programs express interest in me...

Now...this summer, I began to feel burnt out.  Today was my first day back playing after a 2 week break from it, and it suddenly hit me:  I don't play to bring God glory, I play for myself, because I like getting praise, because I like the recognition at my school and town, because I like the cheers from the crowd when I make a basket, because I like to have little kids stop and watch me when I'm at the local gym...I had somehow convinced myself that I was really playing basketball (if you'll pardon the cliche) "for an audience of one".  Perhaps this was because I prayed before each game, and thanked God after every good game   ...or maybe because before every free throw, I would remind myself of the "audience of one" thing...

I'm also involved with FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes), and all of last season, we were going through this bible study showing you how to play "for an audience of one".  I'm beginning to wonder how you do that.  How do you suppress your own ego, and your own insecurity and need to be admired, and play for the right reason?  I don't know how many of you have been involved in athletics, but for those of you who aren't...in things like your music, your writing, etc, what is your motivation behind doing it?  And how do you keep your motivation on the right things?  Or maybe it's impossible to do...

I'm not sure where this verse is found, but in the bible it says, "Whatever you do, do unto the Lord.", so there must be a way...

Any ideas on this subject will be appreciated...



 

[Vlad!]

I'm reminded of a story Mark Lowry tells regarding gifts God gives. Often, well-meaning but wrongheaded Christians will ignore the effort that a person puts into a skill, instead 'praising' God for it. So one day, as a lady who spent a lot of time tending her yard was out planting some flowers, another woman walked by and commented "God certainly has given you a gift for working in His flowerbed." The lady smiled back and said, "maybe, but you should have seen it when it was only Him tending it!"

God gives us gifts so we can show the glory of the Giver, but that doesn't mean it's a sin to have any shred of pride or any bit of focus on yourself. The same God who admonishes employers to fairly compensate their employees in Luke knows the value of hard work and dedication. So don't feel guilty when you make the winning shot and you are surrounded by your cheering teammates! Be happy! Be proud! If I gave you an awesome gift, I wouldn't want you hiding it or blushing when people drew attention to it. God gave you the gift because He loves you (that's why people give gifts, isn't it?), so when you train it and focus it and use it, feel good about it.

I hope my own little personal rant helps you in your question

[DvChWi]

C.S. Lewis wrote something great on this topic, I will try to go find it, and get back to you.

[cbluejays]

Great post Vlad...you brought a point of view I hadn't really considered before.  

Maybe it's because of that FCA bible study I went through, but it still just doesn't seem right to be playing for selfish reasons...one of the bible studies main points was that "playing for Christ" would make you a more consistant player...because you wouldn't be emotionally swayed to play better in a really important game, or let down a bit against a weak opponent...Anyways, I'm still not sure there's much of a chance to "play for Christ" in sports.  Should I quote scripture to whoever's guarding me?  

I'm already getting good trash talking ideas..."You're gonna finish last this game...but it's alright, cause God said 'The first shall be last and the last shall be first"...

OK, on a more serious note...I do agree it's fine to have pride in your talents.  But what if you feel like the only reason you use your "talents" is for your own glory...Quite frankly, if I wasn't one of the "top" players on our team, I wouldn't even play basketball...

[Vlad!]

OK, on a more serious note...I do agree it's fine to have pride in your talents.  But what if you feel like the only reason you use your "talents" is for your own glory...Quite frankly, if I wasn't one of the "top" players on our team, I wouldn't even play basketball...

It's hard to say. If you enjoy it (even if your enjoyment comes in part from being good), I don't think that's wrong. If you start to live for the 'love of the crowd', though, that's unhealthy. But how can God fault you for enjoying the use of your talents? And if using your talents makes people admire you because you're good at it, then feel good! But if you start to obsess about it, trying to enhance your performance with drugs or feeling major anger when your team loses, it's not a good thing. So the highly ambiguous advice I can give you is: enjoy it, but don't make it your life.

I hope that makes sense.