There is a saying in sports people use to keep one humble from fans or to protect their hearts from critics: “Don’t read the paper too much.” So many times we perform our sport for the people but get disappointed, frustrated, and upset when fans turn to critics. We are playing for the praise of people instead of the purpose of God. We were created by God, for God, to do great things because of God.

These feelings of heartache and disappointment can overwhelm us because the expectations we put on people are the expectations we should have from God. We should expect God to watch us and love us whether we won or lost. When we play, coach, and cheer for our Audience of One, we perform out of love for Him, not love from Him.

So let’s put down the newspapers and pick up the Bible and be completely satisfied with how we play because we have played according to the Word not the World.