Here is a portion of an article that appeared in The Christian Post about Jeremy Lin and his perspective on basketball.
Jeremy Lin, the 24-year-old Christian Houston Rockets guard who rose to fame when he became a starter for the New York Knicks in 2012, recently took time to show his fans appreciation while explaining why Jesus Christ was so important to him.
Lin recently took to Facebook to answer questions from fans during what he called Fan Appreciation Week. One fan asked Lin what Jesus meant to him and the NBA player did not hesitate to answer.
“Everything…without Him I wouldn’t have a purpose in life,” Lin answered on Facebook…..
However, Lin has been vocal about playing for God and not the fame that he acquired last year.
“I just play for God. That’s what I need to focus on every day. I’m going to have good games; I’m going to have bad games,” Lin told the Houston Chronicle last year. “If I play for God, if I play hard and if I try to give Him the glory, I’m OK. I need to learn to be OK with whatever happens and trust it’s part of God’s perfect plan.”
I appreciate his honesty about the struggle of playing for God’s glory, particularly when it seems to conflict with mine. I wish it weren’t so, but it can so often still be about me, about me winning or looking good.
When that happens, I know part of the answer is to remember where competition came from (click here to read about the question, “Was there competition in the Garden?”), to understand how the Fall affects competition and how Christ’s redemption is designed to impact my approach to competition.
Jesus Christ, the one by whom all things were created and for whom all things were created, came to redeem all of creation from the curse of the Fall – people as well as sports! Jeremy Lin gives us a great example of someone who is wrestling with living out that redemption today.
