It is all around us. Examples abound but the one we all have seen – leaders in various arenas of life who claim their private life failures don’t influence their public job performance. They say they can cheat, betray, steal, and lie in the privacy of their home yet we are to trust that this won’t spill over into their roles on the job. In other words, they claim that “over there doesn’t affect over here.”
As Christians, we often adopt this compartmentalized view of the world. We use words like “secular” and “sacred” and advocate God’s greater concern for the things of life we put in the “sacred” bucket more than the things in life we put in the “secular” bucket… with tragic results.
You have seen the statistics.
We are the wealthiest nation in the world with a significant number of us who claim to know the God (who is also known as the “Generous Outpourer” and who did not “spare his own son but gave him up for us all,” yet we give on average less than 4% of our income to charitable causes.
Our attitudes and actions toward marriage, lying and other ethical areas of our lives mirror the world around us even in contradiction to the purposes and plans of God.
And our sports have not been spared.
For example, recent research was done with 100 Division III athletes. They were all self-proclaimed Christians. They were asked a series of questions about the impact of their Christianity on their participation in the sport. The questions were basically in three categories or compartments, although not directly labeled as such.
The results were startling. All 100 athletes said that their Christianity affected the way they acted before the game–they prayed or read something spiritual. All 100 said it affected them after they played–they prayed or went and talked to someone about Christianity.
The startling result was that NONE of the 100 athletes said by their answers that their Christianity affected them DURING the game–the way they played their sport. The end result becomes Christian coaches who teach their players to cheat or Christian college presidents who alter star players' grades to keep them eligible for the championship just to name a few.
Compartmentalization at work again, but this is not the way God sees the world or the way he calls us to view it.
So, how do we answer the problem of compartmentalization? INTEGRATION.
But how do we integrate all of life? What is the one unifying principle that can connect every aspect of life? THE GLORY OF GOD.
“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1Corinthians 10:31
May we fight compartmentalization and pursue the integration of sports under the glory of God.