Jesus was a “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3) who told us to deny ourselves and follow him to Golgotha with crosses on our backs.  He taught us those who try to save their lives will lose them, but “whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25).  The apostle Paul said, “I die every day!” (1 Corinthians 15:31).  The Christian life is a life of death.  So for the sake of those who want to lose their lives for Christ, here are 11 ways to die while playing volleyball.

1. Rejoice in loss. Loss teaches us about death.  When our flesh rises up pridefully to anger or embarrassment, loss can become a parable of death as we use it to put the flesh to death.  When we lose, we glorify God by killing our pride and rejoicing with our opponents in a shared love for the game.

2. Win with grace. Winning, likewise, is a chance to die.  The flesh desires to boast in its accomplishments.  When we win gracefully, we die, and God is shown to be our joy, not bragging rights.

3. Make mistakes. When we make mistakes, we die by realizing our finiteness.  Only God is capable of executing anything perfectly.  Our mistakes bear witness to the full range of God’s perfections.

4. Be amazed at God’s goodness. God said, “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4).  We’re sinners, so what does God do?  He gives us volleyball!  Be amazed at God’s goodness! We deserve the sun to fall on us and boil the oceans, but he puts it in the sky and sets paradise before us.  When we realize the only reason the sun rose to warm the sand is due to God’s goodness and his steadfast love, we die to our old selves which would have us think God owes us his sun.

5. Use valuable opportunities to mortify sin. Games present opportunities to mortify sin that we aren’t always given so plainly in our everyday life.  We can mortify temper, which causes us to get frustrated when the game doesn’t go our way, gloating, which rises which each point we score, belittling, which makes us want to speak harshly to a stumbling teammate, and pride, which wants to take credit for the athletic ability God has given us.

6. Recognize our smallness. If we think the world is going to fall apart because we take a break to play volleyball, we don’t really realize who is in control.  It’s not our strength that holds the sun in orbit around the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy.  Nor do we have the power to turn one hair white or black (Matthew 5:36).  God serves us and doesn’t need us to carry out his purpose in the world.  One way he serves us is by giving us volleyball to enjoy, for the sake of his glory.

7. Remember God’s purpose. God’s purpose in the world is not primarily to convert everyone to Christianity.  If that was his primary purpose in the world, he could accomplish it.  Nor is his purpose primarily to purify and disciple his church.  If that was his primary purpose, we would all be pure this moment!  These are both secondary purposes, which God works mightily in, but they both serve his primary purpose of glorifying himself.  And one way God glorifies himself is by giving us volleyball to receive with thanks as a gift bought with the blood of the Lamb.

8. Stand in awe of others’ talents. God is glorified when we turn away from ourselves and take notice of our opponents’ talents.  When we praise our opponents and teammates for their talent, God is glorified.  Moreover, God has given professionals and Olympic players far superior talent for us to behold – small glories in which we can see glimmers of the glory of God.

9. Stay in shape. Volleyball can be used as a means of exercise, and exercise keeps our bodies in the condition in which God intends them.  It enables us to do more in our pursuit to glorify him.  When we are more mobile, we can more easily perform the tasks God has for us.  Also, exercise is wonderful missionary training because there are people who can’t be reached any other way but on legs.  Furthermore, exercise helps stay off depression and mental illness.  Finally, when we sweat with thankful hearts, we sweat to the glory of God.

10. Keep your body under submission. When our bodies want to give up in the middle of a game, we die by overcoming fatigue.  When we deny ourselves an unnecessary rest, we join Jesus who denied himself the comfort of heaven for our sake.  This denial is not a stoic denial for its own sake, but it teaches us of our frailty, it trains us to bear difficulties, and it prepares us for war.

11. Look to the greater joy Jesus offers. Volleyball is good because it teaches us about the good God who created it.  He gives us joys here on earth to bear witness to the greater joy that is to come when we at last see his beautiful face.  When we realize this we die, and just as mightily we live.  The joy of volleyball is a parable – a small taste – of the joy Jesus offers.

Further Reading

Mahaney, C. J. “Don’t Waste Your Sports.” 31 Aug 2008. http://www.covlife.org/resources/2671709-Dont_Waste_Your_Sports

Piper, John. “How do you glorify God through exercise?” 31 March 2008. http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/AskPastorJohn/ByTopic/13/2695/

—. “How to Drink Orange Juice to the Glory of God.” 15 September 1986. http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/1986/1489/

—. “Softball, Sex and Augustus Strong.” 4 May 1982. http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/1982/3299/