As an athlete heavy in your season, maybe it’s the next game that’s on the line. You get out of bed, prepared to train hard from dusk to dawn, knowing that you have an opponent to battle come game day. If you’re a coach, maybe it’s your job on the line. If you can’t deliver a successful season, would your job be compromised? Adversely, maybe you get out of bed for the pure love and passion of your sport or your team.

Either way, answering this question can really make you stop and think about why you do the things you do.

Whether it’s the drive out of necessity or love, we all have reasons we wake up and hit the court, field or film room. But is that it? Is our sole purpose in life to do things just for our own enjoyment or comfort?

God says differently. There’s this bigger purpose, this greater plan, that God has called each and every one of us to.

Here’s what to know about this greater purpose:

Love God and Love Others

As a child of the Most High God, you are created to live out His plan. In your sport and profession, you must love others. And you do that by first loving God and following the perfect example He set before us: Jesus Christ. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus shows and tells us how.

“‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

–Matthew 22:37-39

Saved to Lead

Because Jesus saved you, you must lead others to Him so that the ones you love (brothers and sisters, teammates and peers) may also experience this love.

“As for us, we can’t help but thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation—a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth. He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

–2 Thessalonians 2:13-14

Fulfill the Mission

With this new perspective as you follow God and lead others to this greater purpose, we are fulfilling His mission: to speak truth, show love and become united with Christ.

“Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.”

-Ephesians 4:15

When we learn and understand this greater purpose, the basis of our why changes. Before Christ, our lives were filled with selfish desires and inclinations. And that kind of purpose leads to a fruitless, dissatisfying life.

As you compete this week, ponder your greater purpose.

Let’s hold on to this truth: our lives are not our own; they’re Christ’s.

We have a higher purpose; let’s be ready to live out His plans.

Competitor, you are called. How will you answer?