The Stewardship in Sports

Christian parents warn their children to stay away from harmful movies, television shows, peers, Web sites, and other such influences, only to dump them into the world of sports that typically contains all the negative things they have told their children to avoid.

Many prominent teams have state-of-the-art locker rooms containing spacious dressing rooms, automatic toilets, elaborate sound systems, and cable televisions carrying a variety of stations. The culture of the common locker room consists of music and videos that do not honor the Lord. Profanity abounds; God’s name is proclaimed but typically in the form of cursing. Usually, however, there are a small number of Christian athletes huddled in a corner doing a devotional before practice or a game, and it is these few who are considered the dysfunctional group. There is simply no stewardship in locker rooms like this. No one has undertaken to make it a place fit for Christ to dwell in. Can godly stewardship of a locker room be accomplished?

One day in an NFL locker room, a new player arrived filled with passion for Jesus. Over time he inspired that small number of Christians to manage the locker room with godly principles. Effective stewardship is handled with patience; and this NFL locker room did not change overnight, but as those who profess Christ lived out their faith boldly and prayerfully, others were won over. Before long Christian music was being pumped in, and the immoral content came off the television screens. Good stewardship doesn’t mean that we are called to exercise a self-righteous agenda; rather, it is through love, gentleness, and obedience that others will want what we have.