The Lord's Prayer (For Sportspeople)Sample

"Our Father in heaven … Give us today our daily bread."

You don’t need to speak to a sports scientist or nutritionist to find out that if you don’t eat and drink properly, your sporting performances will suffer. So, stop eating those pies and packets of crisps!

God provides for our most fundamental needs.

In the second half of the Lord’s prayer, Jesus teaches how our Father in heaven provides for all our physical, emotional, and moral needs.

Give us.

Today we focus on God’s provision for our physical needs. Notice that Jesus doesn’t teach us to pray that God would sell us our daily bread or give us our daily bread in exchange for our services. Instead, we are to ask God to give us our daily bread.

Our Father in heaven is the one who provides for us. This is what he did for the nation Israel in the Old Testament, when God provided food daily as they travelled through the wilderness from Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan:

Then the Lord said to Moses “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day” (Exodus 16:4).

God’s provision and our response.

God’s role is to provide what we need to feed ourselves. What is our role? Once again, the story of Moses provides the answer.

17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed (Exodus 16:17-18)

Our Father in Heaven provides the food, his children must collect it. So, we should be grateful for his provision of our most basic needs and use his provision of food appropriately. As athletes, we understand the importance of eating healthily. I hope it’s an encouragement for you to see that this is the right response to our God-given food provision.

Give us today day our daily bread.

There is one more thing worth noting from Jesus’ words. He did not teach us to pray, “Give me today my daily bread.” Instead, Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread. It is a communal prayer.

We know that if we live in the West, we are far wealthier than many other parts of the world. We are fully aware of parts of the world where people face starvation. We understand the need to share our money so that all can access daily bread. It is especially important that Christian athletes consider how they might share their God-given resources with others so that together we honor God’s provision for his world.

Be grateful.

If you are playing, coaching, or competing today, you are almost certainly receiving God’s provision of daily bread. He is providing the necessities of life that keep your body functioning. You may play well; you may have a bad game. You might win, it could be a day of defeat. Whatever the situation at today’s game, make sure that you don’t take the basics of life for granted. Go play.

Prayer

Lord, thank you that you have provided me with the food and nutrition that I need to live and play sport this week. Please help me to be grateful for something I might easily take for granted. Further, Lord, please convict me of the responsibility to share my resources with others in greater need for this most basic physical provision.

Amen