Athlete, Remember WITH not FOR

But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his fathers sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine."

Saul said to David, "Go, and the Lord be with you."

1 Samuel 17:34-37

Ok, hopefully you had a chance to watch the chapel last night. If not, you can access it in the Ao1 Life app on the home screen under the "Digital Chapel" tab. I mentioned the story of David and Goliath briefly last night but I want to back up even further before the fight even starts.

Upon hearing that Goliath is challenging the entire Israelites army and nobody chooses to step forward, David is confused. He decides to volunteer to fight. Saul laughs at first but eventually allows it. Saul's unwillingness to fight as the King of Israel is cowardly. In fact, there are very few good moments during Saul's reign. But his theology in what he says to David is spot on. And it's something we need to be reminded of constantly.

"Go, and the Lord be with you."

With. With. With. The Lord is with us.

How many times do we play our sport "for" him as if we were giving him something of utmost value? The subtly of the word shift is significant. I believe the shift in words will help us shift our mindset and heart posture toward the Lord in competition and throughout the day. What if we started doing things WITH the Lord instead of feeling the pressure of doing things FOR him?

Try it out today and see how it feels.

With. Not for. Just be with him today. I think he will value that more than anything you can do for him.

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