prayers for blowouts

Post-Game Spirituality

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I found this interview with Kurt and Brenda Warner on the CBN website.

It’s about 5 years old, but I thought his comments on post-game Jesus talk were very interesting:

When you stand up and say, ‘Thank You, Jesus,’ they think you are saying, ‘Thank You for being here. Thank You for moving my arm forward and making the ball go into that guy’s hands so that we could score a touchdown and win the game.’ But, in essence, it is a matter of thanking Him for the opportunity, thanking Him for being there in my life, for being the stronghold, for being the focus and the strength to accomplish all things, to accomplish anything, and to be where I am at, to have gone through everything I have gone through. It is a constant thing in my life. It is not just for something specific He did on the football field to help us win; it is for everything that He has done in my life up to that point and for everything He will continue to do in my life from here until eternity.

I like what Kurt is saying here, I like it a lot. I’m glad that when he thanks Jesus after a game, it’s not because he feels like Jesus helped him win. I like that there’s more to it than that. The problem is, since his lengthy explanation doesn’t accompany his comments in the post-game interview, in most cases people don’t realize what is behind his gratitude. Like he says himself, they think he is thanking God for helping him win the game.

I guess that’s the problem that i usually have with athletes thanking their creator after games. The sound bites about God that athletes stick into these interviews almost always feel forced and a little bit contrived. Not contrived in that they are being insincere, but contrived in that it seems like they were going to get in their sound bite regardless of what the question posed to them was.

Again, I’m not questioning the sincerity of the athlete’s spirituality at all, just the motive behind their unprompted confessions of faith. It’s as if they are doing it out of a sense of duty more than anything else. If the only reason you’re namedropping Jesus is because you’re on national television and you feel like you’re supposed to, then maybe you shouldn’t.

These spiritual sound bites leave a bad taste in so many people’s mouths because there’s usually no context for them when they are spoken. If the reporter specifically asks the athlete what role his or her faith played in the game, then I can understand a response about God. But in most cases the athletes will ignore the question that was asked of them so that they can get in their statement of faith while the cameras are still rolling. At best, it comes across as unrelated and unnecessary. At worse, it feels sneaky and deceptive.

Imagine doing this in other areas of your life? Your boss calls you in to her office to ask how you managed to save the firm’s biggest account and you respond, “First of all, I just want to give all the glory to God and my savior Jesus Christ,” before eventually answering her question. Or what if you responded to a neighbor looking for lawn care tips with, “I’d just like to thank my personal savior Jesus for being there with me as I applied that weed and feed.” If you spent a month doing this I can guarantee you that thirty days later you’d find yourself living like Jose Canseco: lonely and unemployed.

Most of us are careful to only introduce our faith into situations where our beliefs are being solicited or where there is proper context for the discussion to take place. I personally never look to throw random spiritual truths into conversations just because I can. Ambushing people with statements about my faith when they’re not expecting it has never really worked out well for me. If it has for you, then may I suggest you look into missions work? (No seriously, you should.) I’m not saying that God can’t use anything we say to change someone’s life, but I just don’t see a lot of fruit coming from this particular form of evangelizing. Other than the handful of Christians who get excited because someone famous just made a positive comment about God on national television, the post-game interview “Jesus Namedropping” usually does nothing more than aggravate those who are watching.

Like i said earlier, I appreciated hearing what is behind Kurt Warner’s post game spiritual thank you’s, but in my opinion they don’t come across that well on TV.

What do you all think? Should we encourage others to give Jesus praise as much as possible, no matter the context? Should athletes only mention their faith when asked about it? Would you like to see more or less positive mentions of Jesus’ name coming from athletes and celebrities? I would love to get a little discussion going on this.

One other thing…I thought it was interesting that Brenda Warner doesn’t just look like a marine with her short haircut, she actually was a marine corporal. Am i the only one who didn’t know that?

Tags: , Jesus, Kurt Warner