The athlete, the body and faith. How do we maintain a healthy balance between competing in our sport and living for Jesus? Jesus is Lord of our lives, and that truth means there should not be an equal balance between our faith and our sport. Picture an old-school scale where you can place items on either side of the scale. Imagine putting godliness on one side and your sport on the other side. The godliness side of the scale should be heavier than the sport side. Godliness carries more weight than our sport.

By all means, we should practice and compete at our highest level. Paul encourages us to compete for the glory of God, but he also says that all we do with our bodies lasts only a short period of time. Elite athletes who win at the highest levels find out that the thrill is short-lived. What Paul teaches is godliness over competition. He says that godliness will benefit us much longer than how fast we can run or swim, how high we jump or how many trophies are in our trophy cases. A coach once said, “You are one play or injury from never playing again.” That means we should focus on godliness more than we focus on our sport. If we do that, our performance will take care of itself.

Tip the scales—godliness over sport. Here are several keys to godliness taken from Scripture:

• Be nourished by the truth of God’s Word.

• Be nourished by sound doctrine.

• Avoid arguing over subjects that don’t build your faith.

• Train yourself to be godly. Be spiritually fit.