Not in Vain

The harsh reality of life is that sometimes, no matter how hard we work to reach a goal, it might not happen.

You might train daily to make your varsity team and still be on junior varsity. You might have a dream of playing your sport in college; then, in your senior year, you have a career-ending injury. Perhaps you are a coach, and even though you have been successful, your position gets cut due to budget.

In this world, we have no control over outcomes. We could work hard each day, but our dreams for our lives might not happen.

However, we have hope because there is work we can do that will never be in vain. 1 Corinthians 15 reminds us that our work for the Lord here on earth will have eternal impact and significance. If we are steadfast in our pursuit of the Lord, we have assurance that the work we put in will produce fruit. Will we always see the fruit? No, that is not what is promised; but there will be fruit from work done for the Lord.

We are called to work hard at whatever we do. That includes your sport. The thing we need to remember is that if we put all our hope in our sport, we will experience disappointment because we put our faith in this world rather than God.

So, pursue sport and dreams with the mindset that you are doing this work not for yourself but for the Lord and His Kingdom. Things done in the name of God will not return void.