Set 

What’s the glue that holds your team together? 

What’s the accelerator that pushes you to keep going in your sport? 

There’s a secret ingredient that makes a competitor a competitor. The force that triggers an athlete to get up and train before the sun, or the fuel to sustain a coach who studies plays through the night. It’s the balm that brings a team together after a crushing loss. But it’s not what you think. It’s not motivation, ambition, teamwork, common goals, ego or even drive. 

It’s hope. 

It’s why we huddle up. We rally around hope. It’s the bond for our team, the catalyst of our dreams, and even the anchor to our souls. 

We see this in the greatest playbook ever written, the Bible:

“This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.”— Hebrews 6:19

“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” -- Hebrews 11:1

Hope gives us confidence that the things we put our faith in will eventually become reality. It’s why we train. It’s why we compete. It’s why we don’t give up. Our sweat, our pain and our perseverance, even in the darkest moments of our lives, ultimately leads us to something better. To someone better. And this hope, our faith, points us to Jesus. 

“And his name will be the hope of all the world.”— Matthew 12:21

And Jesus isn’t just for us. He’s the hope of the whole world. Those athletes you stand shoulder to shoulder with, they need to know Jesus. Those coaches you look eye-to-eye with, they need to know Jesus. Those family and friends and neighbors who fill your stands and rattle the fences and raise their hands in victory, they need to know Jesus. 

We all need hope.

So, in this season of competition and advent, rally around hope. Throw your arms around Jesus. He’s the reality of our faith. Our hope in human form. He is coming soon!