His Alone

Two sports. Same season. Vastly different results.

My daughter has been playing basketball in a non-school league, as mentioned in On the Court: Part I and Part II. During exactly the same timeframe, she’s also been competing on her school’s track team. In terms of success, the two experiences have been diametrically different.

In track, she’s been her team’s lead female runner in the 1600M, earning the highest place for the school in each meet even if she didn’t win. On the basketball court, however, her team has suffered excruciating losses, logging 30 and 50 point deficits with nary a win for the entire season. 

We’ve celebrated with her after track meets and we’ve consoled her when she comes off the court. Last weekend, after (yet another) painful basketball loss, she expressed her frustration candidly as we drove home. I grappled for words that wouldn’t ring hollow or smack of Christian platitudes.

Equal input. Different outcome.

The lesson wouldn’t have been as obvious hadn’t the two seasons been simultaneous. For both sports, she practiced faithfully, never missing a session. She diligently heeded the instructions of her coaches. She brought relentless enthusiasm to practice and competition alike. Her body had the same nutritional intake and rest. In short, she brought consistent (and valiant) effort to both sports, yet the results were strikingly dissimilar. I remarked that I found it gracious of God to give her a sense of success in track to buoy her heart when basketball hadn’t recorded a win. But God nudged… the lesson went deeper.

In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul addresses divisions in the church that have arisen due to partiality toward those who have invested in their faith, namely himself and Apollos. He corrects them, pointing them toward God, who alone gives growth.

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe–as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
— 1 Corinthians 3:5-7 NIV

Only God makes things grow.

While Paul’s intention in writing to the Corinthians was for a specific purpose, we can still extract this principle of truth from the passage: God is in charge of the outcomes. Paul planted seeds. Apollos tended to the care-taking of newly rooted faith. In essence, both men exerted an effort. Their efforts weren’t for the purpose of earning God’s affection for themselves, but solely for bringing Him glory. Whether the Corinthians matured in their faith was the Lord’s task.

My athlete runs and plays, spending herself completely in both sporting venues. I’ve encouraged her to do so as an offering unto Him (Colossians 3:23). In light of her equivalent effort, the differing results affirm God’s sovereignty and grace whether to appoint worldly success to her. I, too, needed this reminder as I pour myself out in my own labors of parenting, writing, speaking, and ministry. Success — the kind I know how to measure with human parameters — is His to grant or withhold.

We are in charge of our effort. He is in charge of the results. This divine allocation is His merciful protection, for otherwise we might take for ourselves that which rightly belongs to Him:

The glory is His alone.