Sports provide many people with a tremendous amount of opportunities: to compete, to accomplish, to work together with others, to make money, and to experience winning. At the same time, sports give everyone involved the opportunity to fear. Coaches fear losing their jobs if they lose too many games. Coaches fear their strategies won’t work or their messages won’t be received by the players. College football coaches fear their players will transfer or their great assistants will leave for a head coaching job. Players fear being cut if they make too many mistakes. Players fear being traded or not getting a new contract. Players fear being injured every time they step on the field. If they do get injured, players fear it could be career-ending or limit their ability moving forward. Older players fear they might be playing their last game or playing in their final season. Then, older players fear they won’t be able to handle retirement because they no longer play their sport. Teams fear that one loss could lead to a losing streak. Teams fear that one injury to a key player will derail the season. Teams fear opponents who appear bigger, stronger, and faster. Fans have plenty of opportunities to fear as well. Fans fear their team chose the wrong player with their draft pick. Fans fear their star player will leave in free agency. Fans fear the team’s owner doesn’t know what he’s doing. Fans fear they will show up to a game and it might be a blowout loss or bad weather. I can go on and on with different ways fear can creep into all aspects of sports. Yes, some fear is positive and understandable, but for the most part, it causes players, coaches, fans, and teams to hold back, become defeated, be brought down, and focus on the wrong things. Instead, they need to embrace the opportunity to overcome fear with faith, hope, confidence, and optimism. Every day of our lives there are opportunities for us to fear as well. We can fear for our safety, what the government will do next, losing our jobs, the inability to pay our bills, our kids getting hurt or into trouble, relationships being broken, getting sick or facing death. There are other ways fear creeps in a little bit deeper such as the fear of failure, the fear of rejection, the fear of not being good enough, the fear of things not happening when we want them to, the fear of plans falling apart, or the fear of disappointing others. Yes, some fear is positive and understandable, but for the most part, it causes us to hold back, become defeated, be brought down, and focus on the wrong things. This is why we can’t let fear win, but rather we can be mindful of the opportunity we have to trust God each day. The Bible says in Proverbs 29:25 (NLT), “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety.” God tells us in Isaiah 41:10 (ESV), “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Thankfully, as followers of Jesus, we don’t have to be trapped and hindered by fear because we have the power to overcome fear by yielding to the Holy Spirit and surrendering our fears to God daily. It’s too hard on our own because the opportunities for fear are all around us, but when we rely on Jesus, we are filled with faith, hope, confidence, and optimism. We can claim Romans 15:13 (ESV): “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” We can also remember 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV): “For we live by faith, not by sight.” We must cling to 2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT): “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity but of power, love, and self-discipline.” Today, let’s identify our fears and ask God to free us from them as we live by faith in Him. Let's be encouraged by Psalm 34:4 (NLT): ”I prayed to the Lord, and He answered me. He freed me from all my fears.” I’m Bryce Johnson, and you can UNPACK that! PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I acknowledge that some fears hold me back and creep into my life. I pray You would help me overcome them and empower me to live by faith instead. Please free me from my fears and help me approach each day with confidence and hope as I trust in You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR PACKS:
1. What fears are most common in your life? 2. In what situation have you seen God help you overcome fear and step forward in faith?
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