Strive against – this phrase summarizes the broken competition of our day. Opponents are enemies that must be 
dominated and defeated at any cost. Warfare language peppers motivational speeches by coaches and players, without any pushback or much thought (“Kill them!”, “Destroy them!”, “the enemy”, “This isn’t just a game, this is war!” are just a few examples I have heard.).
Strive with – this phrase summarizes redeemed competition. Opponents are fellow image bearers for whom I am grateful and with whom I compete bring out more of the glory of God in them and myself.
In this blog, we try to point out examples of both, looking to the day where there were far more redeemed than broken examples. Here is one:
Mike Tolbert is a 5’9”, 245 pound, bruising fullback for the Carolina Panthers. In a recent game against the San Francisco 49ers, he collided violently with 49er safety, Eric Reid, leaving Reid on the field facedown. Upong noticing the impact of the collision, Tolbert immediately went over to Reid and kneeled to pray for him. He stayed in that posture until Reid got up, when Tolbert then hugged Reid, patted him on the head, and told him to get healthy. (For more of the story, click here.)
Why such a dramatically different attitude? While Tolbert doesn’t say the reason he did this was because he “strives with”, if you read the story it is apparent that he saw Reid as more of a human being (“fellow image bearer” in my language) who he was merely playing a game with, not someone he was trying to destroy.
This unusual behavior got the attention of Reid’s father, who was watching the game. He ended up writing Tolbert to let him know how much Tolbert’s compassion meant to him. The father’s letter got into the hands of the Panther’s owner, Jerry Richardson, who also told Tolbert of his pleasure with Tolbert and the action. Later, Reid’s father told his son what had happened, since he was unaware of what was going on around him at that exact moment, and it brought a similar reaction.
Redeemed competition gets people’s attention and leads to affirmation by some. In God’s mind, that affirmation should not stop with the players who live out this kind of competition, but also extend to the Creator of this competition and the original design that would prompt such actions.
(For a great tool for casting the vision for redeemed competition and stirring such actions, check out For the Love of the Game in the CSO Store. It will be available the first week in January. If you are interested and would like more information, email me at bschindler@csosports.org)
