When my son Josh was younger, I recall introducing him to basketball. Though I played football in college, I loved basketball more than any other sport. I spent the next two decades coaching basketball, including teaching my son the fundamentals. I coached him through elementary, middle, and eventually high school.

Though I introduced him to the game by giving him a basketball and showing him how to shoot, his love for it made him a gym rat. I can’t begin to count how many times I rebounded the ball while he perfected his sharpshooting. Teaching my son basketball was one way to show him I loved him and wanted to spend time with him.

How we spend time with God and show love to others demonstrates our love for Him. When you grow up playing sports, you learn to love everyone on the team. The same is true in the family of God. Love for other believers is one of the key identifiers of those on His team.

1 John 5 – Birthmarks

John summarizes 1 John by encouraging his readers to live lives of faith, love, and obedience. John describes these three spiritual birthmarks that identify those in the family of God. Prayer is one way to show our love for God and to act on our love for one another.

The Kingdom Coach and Athlete are motivated to love others because of their love for Jesus. This reflects a genuine desire to obey God’s commandment to love one another, rooted in His sacrifice for us.

Bible Memory Verse – “They are from the world; therefore, they speak as from the world, and the world hears them.” 1 John 4:5 (LSB)

Click HERE for the Kingdom Sports Minute: Motivation of Love

Our featured book this week is Lessons From the Sidelines by Beth Walker. Through her personal stories and interviews with other women, Beth Walker shows that it’s possible for wives to pursue their own callings even as they support their husbands’ careers and ministries. Whether you’re a coach’s wife, the wife of a professional athlete, a pastor’s wife, the wife of a CEO, a military wife, or a college administrator’s wife, you have unique challenges to navigate that differ from the struggles of other women.

Click HERE to review. 

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