God made us as humans with minds, bodies, and souls. It is important to remember this. We are made to live fully in these three realities. They are all intertwined and interconnected. Exercise can get oxygen pumping and make the mind feel fresh. Prayer can calm the body and loosen its tension. A solid intellectual understanding of something can put the soul and body at ease. All three parts make us who we are and allow us to be in relationship with ourselves, others, God, and creation.
We are in a cultural battle today that makes people objects and relationships utilitarian. We don’t say it out loud, but too often we think “What can they do for me?” or “How can they make me happy?” We place value on people for what they can do. Maybe they have a connection to a big company, maybe they have box seats to the NFL game, or maybe they have a big house with a pool.
Our core calling as image bearers of God is to be in right relationships with ourselves, each other, God, and creation. Just a we can take resources from the earth and fail to care for it, we can also strip the personhood away from someone and use them for their gifts or abilities. We are losing our sense that people are humans. There is inherent worth in all people because we are created by God, but we are failing to see it more and more.
I am seeing this issue in the language we use. Specifically with professional sports, it is becoming redundant for coaches, general managers, and star players to talk about other athletes as “pieces.” “We need to get the right pieces in place,” they say. Just a decade ago, they would say, “We need the right players.” Now they are objects. Who are these “pieces”? They are living, breathing humans made in the image of God. But, we have reduced them to an object with a particular purpose of bringing glory to an organization through performing well in sports.
So, as athletes or coaches of all ages, how we talk about our players and how we perceive their strengths and weaknesses is incredibly important. If we frame our concept of success as putting pieces together to achieve a good performance, we are convincing athletes that their value is what they do. If we remind them that they are part of a larger story and loved more than they can imagine, the field can become a place of joy with relationships abounding. We can enjoy playing, win or lose, and compete to be our best with no fear of failure or disappointment.
God created us in his image — compassionate, patient, caring, loving, creative, playful, joyful, and thoughtful. So while pro sports are focused on players as a means to an end, let’s consider how the language we use around our teammates and players can be healthy or unhealthy. What a player does, even if it is tremendous, is not who a player is. We have value as the beloved of God before we ever do anything on the field.