God Is for Us

Where is your identity found? In the world of athletics, it is so easy to find our identities in what we do. I remember my basketball coach constantly reminding us that “basketball is not who we are, it is what we do.” I would always nod my head in agreement, yet still found myself allowing my on-court performance to determine my value and worth. Sports were my identity. Everything changed when the Lord grabbed a hold of my heart through the influence of my baseball coach. The Lord did not remove sports from my life, the Lord established my identity in Christ.

As coaches and athletes, we are called to work hard and strive for excellence. As we strive for excellence, we must not lose sight of the present reality of the Gospel. We must establish ourselves in the truth of who God calls us to be. We must establish our identity in what Christ did for us by living the perfect life, dying the death we deserved and then conquering death by being raised back to life.

In Romans, Paul is writing to a church experiencing tension between the Jewish and Gentile Christians. After explaining the Gospel in the first four chapters, Paul transitions into communicating the unique facets of salvation, including justification and freedom from death, sin and the law. In Romans 8, we see Paul solidify the call to stand confidently in the knowledge of where their identity is found. Only, Paul did it in the form of two questions. He writes in Romans 8:31, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Paul wants the believers to reflect on the incredible truth that God is for us. That is who we are as followers of Christ. A people with a God for us. Paul caps chapter 8 by stating, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, not anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Chris Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

This is the hope, as coaches and athletes, that we must walk in and demonstrate to those around us. Our identity is found in what Jesus Christ did for us. The Gospel is the greatest example of the nature of the Lord our God. He is a God for us.