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"It matters a great deal who is going to win, but not at all who won"

Willie John McBride, Irish Rugby player

Repent

Repent is a very old-fashioned, religious word. Modern translations use:

Change your hearts and lives. (CEB)
Turn from sin (CJB)
Turn back to God! (CEV)
Amend your lives (CEB)

Caroline Fletcher* wrote of this verse: “Christianity is good news. The purpose of repentance is not to highlight how worthless we are, so that we remain stuck forever in our guilt. Rather we acknowledge our mistakes, so we can move on from them knowing God’s forgiveness and receiving the Spirit’s help to change in the future”.

It is sometimes said that sports people are better at taking criticism than the average person because it’s part of our development to have coaches helping us improve our technique. In team sports in particular there is extensive use of video analysis to see where the team went wrong last time and how they can improve next time. Criticism and analysis properly used can be a positive experience.

I love Fletcher’s point that the purpose of repentance is not to highlight how worthless we are. We are made in God’s image. We have intrinsic value. We fail. We sin but through the death of Jesus God has dealt with sin.

As we repent, turned from sin to God and change our lives, our relationship with God is restored. No longer burdened by guilt we are free to use our sporting talents for God’s glory.

*Encounter with God, Scripture Union, 3 June 2020

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