Ready:
“Therefore you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” – Matthew 6:9-13
Set:
The Lord’s Prayer is something many athletes can recite with their eyes closed standing on one leg. We pile in a pre-game huddle, lock arms and pray this prayer before hustling onto the field or court. A friend of mine challenged me recently about the Lord’s Prayer being prayed at games. She questioned her team publicly praying this prayer together on the field and then following it with terrible attitudes and unsportsmanlike conduct on the field towards the other players, hurtful language from the sidelines about fellow teammates and cheering against the other team and its players. As James would say, these things should not be so, my brothers and sisters.
This friend challenged me with the question: What are we telling the public who’s watching us sandwich our pre- and post-game prayers with hateful conduct? What is this showing to a dying world about the love of Christ? Why pray this prayer if we don’t truly mean it?
A few verses before this, Jesus warned the disciples in Matthew 6:7 against “babbling” in their prayers. Babbling refers to using vain repetitions or empty phrases in prayer. They are idle, thoughtless words, implying a mindless, mechanical repetition instead of sincere communication.
When we pray our pre- and post- game prayers, we must be mindful in our words, not mindless. May we be sincere in going to our Heavenly Father. The Lord's Prayer is a sincere prayer if it’s prayed with a sincere heart and mind. And when this is truly prayed with a sincere heart and mind, our actions will flow out of a surrendered heart.
How you play between the pre- and post- game prayers reflects the sincerity of your prayers, not because of your performance but because of your attitude.
Go:
How might you begin this conversation with your team about the sincerity of the Lord’s Prayer?
Does your attitude on the field/court reflect the same attitude you profess in your pre- and post- game prayers?
Workout:
Overtime:
“Dear Heavenly Father, may my heart be sincere in my prayers before and after the game and my actions be glorifying to You between the two. I want my heart to be surrendered to Your model of prayer, not my own mindless babbling. Please use me to start sincere conversations and attitude changes among my teammates. I want to glorify You here on earth as You are in Heaven. In Jesus’ name, amen.”