Being an athlete is hard! You are pushed mentally, emotionally, and physically in so many ways. It also challenges you spiritually with both success and failure. As a former Olympian and All-American sprinter, I have seen how much the spiritual walk can be left behind as an athlete. Often, athletes place their entire identity in their sport, and failure can lead to depression due to a lack of self-worth. Success can often lead to an inflated ego, sexual temptations, and isolation of success and self, which draw one far from God.
The key to athlete success is learning to be content in all situations. To learn to trust that God is still God and his promises are true whether you are succeeding or failing. You must hold on to the truth that man’s main goal is to glorify God. You should come back to that in everything you do. Does how you practice, compete, and treat your coaches and teammates point to God? Here are some bible verses for athletes and Bible stories you can hold on to.
5 Bible Verses for Athletes to Stay Motivated
Colossians 3:23 – “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”
Your motivation to train and compete is not for the glory of men. It’s not to impress your parents, scouts, or anyone else. You have one job as a follower of Jesus: to bring glory to his name. You do that by doing everything with integrity. Live your life as if the spotlight is always on you, even when it is not.
Proverbs 3:5 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
The world wants you to trust your own hands and work, but as an athlete, you can take credit for so little. Who gave you the talent you have? Who formed your body in the womb, and who gave you the parents you have? Trust in the one who created all things and not the creature.
1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 – “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
The athlete’s body is often glorified, but your body is owned by the one who died on the cross for your sins. You are not here to serve yourself or your own name; you’re here to serve God.
Isaiah 41:10 – “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Athletes face many fears: failure, loss, disappointment, and unpreparedness. Yet, ultimately, Christians take hope in Jesus, who defeated sin and death, so we have nothing to fear.
2 Timothy 1:7 – For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power, love, and self-control.
Nothing kills motivation like fear and doubts. But as a follower of Jesus, you have the same Spirit that raised him from the grave. You live in the power of God, with the sacrificial love we see in his giving up his life and the ability to have self-control. All this means you should be confident not in your own works but in the Lord.
Bible Verses for Athletes During Failure
Proverbs 24:16 – “For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.”
Remember that you have victory in Jesus and are made righteous by the blood of Christ. Focus on the Kingdom of God, and you will not stumble; you can’t. Those who don’t know Jesus may have a lot of cool things on earth, but ultimately, they will stumble and fall.
Psalm 73:26 – My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
As an athlete, you will eventually lose. The greatest of the great lose and have their hearts broken. The Father of time catches up with every athlete, and you eventually get replaced by younger athletes. How do you survive this? Your hope is in Jesus, and his victory, so your heart is strengthened by the eternity you have in him.
Romans 5:3-5 – Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
When you suffer as a Christian, it does something much greater in your life. You will suffer as an athlete and in life because Jesus suffered on the cross. If you are like Jesus, you must suffer, knowing that it builds endurance and gives you hope. It produces a character that will never disappoint you because you are sealed with the Holy Spirit as proof of your salvation.
2 Corinthians 12:9 – But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Athletes don’t want to think of themselves as weak, but the reality is that compared to the power of God, you have no strength. But with Christ, that strength is now on your side through the power of the Holy Spirit. That means surrendering to God and letting his strength work in you.
Phillippians 4:6 – Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
The passage’s context is a conflict between Christians. Paul calls the body to trust God with prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving. As an athlete, you may be in conflict with others or even within your own soul, but the call is the same: trust God and bring everything to him.
Bible Verses for Athletes During Success
Jeremiah 9:23-24 Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord.
When looking for Bible verses for athletes, Jeremiah 9 hits the spot when your ego inflates. When you start to feel as if you can boast about your own wisdom, strength, or riches, you must remind yourself that God reigns over all things. You can boast of the fact that you know the Lord at all. Without him choosing you and revealing himself, you would not have salvation.
Psalm 37:4 – Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Getting the desires of your heart does not mean you will get all the world’s things you want. Delighting in the Lord means that your heart desires what he desires. When your desires connect with him, what you ask for will be granted because his word has promised it.
Romans 12:2 – Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
It’s easy to feel like chasing after the things of the world when success is around you. Success can become the most important thing to you, and you become conformed to the world. When you follow Jesus, your mind is renewed, and you resist the desires of the eyes, the flesh, and the pride of life.
Joshua 1:8 – This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Joshua succeeded in entering the Promised Land but recognized that true success in life is found in following the word of the Lord. When you succeed as an athlete, you must cling to this truth.
Scripture Athletes Can Turn During Sin Struggles
1 John 1: 9 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
You don’t need to carry any extra baggage as an athlete. Take heart in that you serve a God who knows you will sin and die for that very sin out of his love for you. Confess your sin regularly!
Proverbs 28:13 – Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
When you try to hide your sin, it weighs you down, and you will fall. The one who confesses their sin runs to Jesus and recognizes their need for a savior.
Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Your own work has produced death in your life, but the work of Jesus has given you eternal life. Praise the work of his hands and not your own, no matter how much the world tries to.
Galatians 5:16 – But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
The key to living sin-free as a Christian is to yield to the Holy Spirit and let him have his way in your life. To do this, you must face the reality that the old you is gone, and the new you in Christ is how you now live.
James 4:7 – Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
If you desire to resist the devil and to get him to run from you, you have to be submitted to God. You have to step off of the throne of your life and put God in his rightful place.
Great Bible Stories for Athletes
Finding Bible verses for athletes is great, but maybe you want more than a verse and need a story to read and sit on. We are made to listen to stories as humans, so these stories will help you learn more about who God is and what he wants from his people.
David and Goliath – 1 Samuel 17
David and Goliath is the classic story of the underdog. If you read the story a little closer, you will see that David was never really the underdog because he had God on his side. He spent time killing lions and bears with his slingshot, so when the Lord needed to use him, he was ready to trust in God for victory fully.
Samson and Delilah – Judges 14
Samson and Delilah is a great story for athletes because it shows what happens when you trust in your own strength and don’t realize who provides you with the strength you have. God can take away your strength and your blessings at the drop of a hat.
Jesus In The Garden – Matthew 26:39
Before Jesus went to die on the cross for the sins of the world, he asked if there was another way. Jesus was human like you and me and did not want to suffer to the extent he did. Yet he was completely submitted to the will of the Father. He was willing to go through anything once he knew it was the Father’s will. The story will give athletes the courage needed to go through hard things.
