Your Kid Is Not a Winner if He Lost

At some point in recent years it became fashionable among Christians to not keep score at children's sporting events. It is sometimes treated as the proper Christian approach and attitude toward sports. Of course, the all too common, win at all costs, cultural sports idolatry is patently unbiblical and must be rejected among Christians.

But there is some solid ground somewhere between the dad who sits idly by as his son chases butterflies rather than the baseballs in the outfield and the dad who screams at his child between every pitch as if it is the seventh game of the World Series. The Bible is far from silent on sports and athletic competition (Genesis 30:8, 32:24, Psalm 19:3-6, 2 Samuel 2:14, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Philippians 3:13-14, Galatians 2:2, Ephesians 6:12, Hebrews 12:1-4). In fact, the Apostle Paul uses the language of sports as one of his three primary metaphors (together with warfare and agriculture) for talking about the Christian life (see 2 Timothy 2:4-7 for all three). All three are physically demanding and require self-control and self-restraint for success.