Is Winning Part of God's Plan? The Truth Every Athlete Needs to Hear

Does God's Plan Guarantee My Win? What No One Tells Christian Athlete

Olympic sprinter Ronnie Baker addresses a poignant question from a listener on his podcast 'Defeat Is Optional.' Baker dives deep into his personal experiences, emphasizing that true victory lies in faithfulness to God rather than just winning medals. He shares his 2021 Olympic journey, the struggles of unmet expectations, and the realization that God's plan is about heart transformation, not merely athletic triumphs. Through biblical references and personal reflections, Baker encourages athletes to realign their motives, maintain obedience, and remember their worth in Christ, urging them to prioritize their spiritual relationship over worldly achievements.

00:00 Introduction: Representing Team USA
00:16 Today's Devotional Question
00:54 Personal Story: The 2021 Olympics
01:22 The Deeper Question: Faith and Rewards
03:25 Biblical Truth: Daniel 3
05:29 The Call to Follow Jesus
06:56 God's Plan: Beyond Wins and Losses
09:46 Practical Steps: Staying Faithful
11:47 Conclusion: Encouragement and Prayer

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Transcript

0:00

I represented team USA on the biggest stage in the world. The Olympics. It was the most pivotal moment of my life, but not for the reason. You might think. I'm Ronnie Baker, your favorite Olympic sprinter and Christian mentor discipling you on how to navigate your faith in your sport. In today's devotional, we're gonna be answering the questions submitted by Johann Perez, 1219, and he asks this question, what do you do when you are consistent with the Lord, but you fail to run how you hoped? That is a good question, Johann, and we're gonna dive into that today, and if you want to get into the action and have a question answered on the defeat, it's optional podcast, you need to run over to the defeat. It's optional Instagram page. Give me a follow because I do polls in there pretty frequently and maybe your question will get selected and I'll create a devotional specifically for you. So lemme tell you guys my own personal story. In 2021, I represented team USA on the biggest stage in the world. The Olympics. It was the most pivotal moment of my life, but not for the reason. You might think. So what do you do when you're consistently walking with the Lord, but you still fail to run how you hoped and maybe you fail to run how you hoped over and over and over again. So let's be honest. Here's the question that's beneath this question. It's like peeling back the layers of an onion. The question that's beneath this one is, if I do everything right with God, shouldn't he reward me with a win? Right, and to every athlete who's thinking that, let me speak truthfully and lovingly, that's a distorted view of what it means to follow Jesus. In 2021, I thought I had it all figured out. I had been trying for six years to make a world or Olympic team. But it seemed like every year I was either injured or I just came up short. When it was time to pick the team, I just couldn't run fast enough that day. But in 2021, I was healthy. I was devoted. I was reading my Bible, I was praying, I was honoring God, and I kept telling myself, if I can get to this, meet healthy, if I can get to the, Olympic trials healthy, I'm going to make this team. So I thought, this is it. God saw my faithfulness. Surely he's going to reward it. And in a way, guys, he did. I made the Olympic team. I stood on the world's biggest stage. I was ready, I was focused, I was confident. I had won almost every race leading up to that moment. Throughout the entire year. I knew that on the other side of this medal, on the other side of winning this Olympic gold medal was everything I'd always dreamed of. More financial security, notoriety, fame, the feeling of finally making it being fulfilled and satisfied that all my hard work had finally paid off. And I almost felt like I deserved it at this point in my career. I had been working so hard. I watched all my other peers get medals, but little did I know God wasn't looking at all that he was looking at my heart. When you tie your relationship with God to results on the track, you reduce him to a performance manager and not a savior. I started treating God like a genie. Kind of like this. If I rub the bottle the right way, he'll come out and he'll grant me a wish. And if the wish doesn't come true, you start to question if he's good at all. You may be thinking, I thought God was supposed to give me the desires in my heart. I or I prayed and asked and God didn't come through for me. He must not be able to do everything like everyone always says he will. But here's the biblical truth. Let's look at Daniel three. Daniel three is a story of Shadrach, Meshach and ab Bendigo. And in Daniel three, when these three men were threatened with the fiery furnace, they said, our God is able to deliver us. But even if he doesn't, we will not bow. They didn't worship God to get something. They worshiped him because he is worthy. Yeah, and that's the shift that we as athletes have to make. This is the shift that I'm still making. It's time that we get this straight and we start seeing God through a correct lens as a savior who isn't concerned with your athletic results, but he's more concerned with you, with your salvation and your willingness to follow him, which requires transformation at a heart level. And guys, this is hard because you have to kill your flesh, which means we have to accept the fact that God will allow things to happen in our sport that don't seem fair If it means saving you. God doesn't promise outcomes. He promises himself. And Christianity is not a formula. It's not pray. Plus hard work equals win. Jesus doesn't say, follow me and win. He says, follow me and I will make you new. So here's what I learned, the mindset I had been living in that said God was supposed to answer my prayers with a win is what led me down the path of depression. After 2021, I sank into this. so hear me when I say there's a special place in my heart for each and every athlete that's listening to this, that has animosity towards God because of their lack of success, Because I've been there and I've lived it. I had this lingering ache that what I hoped for these things like financial security, notoriety, and fulfillment from all the hard work paying off that stuff still hadn't come. And I was getting frustrated with God. I was getting frustrated with myself. I was showing up to practice. I wasn't missing days. I would get there early. I would leave late, I would pray. I would do the things that I felt like were the right things to do. And I always kept asking myself, why is this not working? Why didn't it pay off? And then my mentor hit me with the truth. This is the truth. And the truth will set you free, is that Jesus didn't say, do the right things. He said, follow me. In Matthew four, Jesus called to Peter and Andrew who were fishermen. They weren't scholars, they weren't elite, they were just ordinary men. And he said, follow me. In Jewish tradition, this was everything. It was the dream to be called by a rabbi. It meant you were chosen. It was in that day like being drafted to the NFL. When you watch the NFL draft, They talk about these guys' dreams coming true. Finally making it. But here's what most don't realize. Being called to follow doesn't guarantee prestige. It almost guarantees the opposite. It guarantees ridicule. It guarantees persecution. But just like being called to follow doesn't guarantee prestige. going to the NFL doesn't guarantee a Super Bowl, it guaranteed transformation. And that's what all the disciples were called to transformation. God's goal wasn't the medal, it was the man he was shaping and molding me to become. And that's the same thing that he's doing with you and that person that he wants you to come is so much better than the person that you are now. You can't even imagine it. The thing that keeps me going is thinking about what I can do for the Lord. When he can shape me into the person and the man that he needs me to be, not just in sport, but in every area of my life. The Lord was using my training, my pain, my setbacks, even my success to shape me not to platform me. You may hear it all the time. God's got a plan. People wear headbands that say God's plan. People wear wrist plans that say God's plan. You hear people playing the Drake song, God's plan, right? But we need to define what that plan actually is. Like, do you understand what God's plan is? God's plan is not just to bless you with wins. His plan is to redeem your heart. That's why Romans 8 28 says, he works all things together for good, for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Notice how the text doesn't say for our purpose, it says his purpose. It doesn't mean you can't hope and pray and believe you will win one day. That's actually a requirement of faith. And guess what? I'm still doing that as a professional athlete, and you should be doing that as an athlete yourself. But remember Daniel three 17, right? Our God is able to deliver us, but even if he doesn't, which means we need to be okay with the, even if he doesn't part of that scripture, that reveals that we can want good results in sports, but we won't be deterred if it doesn't go our way. So I wanted to close out with a journal reflection that I wrote a couple months ago that I wanted to share with you guys and here it is. You'll hear athletes all the time after a disappointing loss, say God's got a plan, or people will encourage them saying, keep working. God has a plan. It's all gonna eventually come together. But what is that plan? I think a lot of people believe that God's plan is that final realization of their goals. I think athletes believe God's plan is blessing them with the win they work so hard for, or that they're praying for, or that they've believed that they'll have, and they believe that if I don't quit, if I keep working year after year, guess what? God's plan is gonna come through. But over the years I've realized God's plan is not blessing you with wins or money or influence. His plan is the grand redemptive one. The one to redeem your heart and to save his people. It was set in motion from the beginning of time, and that's the promise and the plan that will be completed. Which means, the question that we need to ask ourselves is this. How is what I'm going through right now helping God accomplish his plan? The one to draw you near to him, the one to save your soul? How is it accomplishing that plan?'cause that's what God's plan is for you. Jesus says in Matthew 1626, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? He's asking, what good is it to prioritize worldly possessions, achievements, or power, while losing spiritual blessings or peace? So let's set our hearts and minds on the right thing, which is God's redemptive plan and not our own. After all, that plan is a lot bigger than ours, and it should give us hope regardless of what comes our way in life. Remember the big question is how is what I'm going through helping accomplish God's redemptive plan for me and for the world? So here's what you do When you've been committed to the Lord. You've been faithful to the Lord, and you still don't run how you hoped. Number one is long story short, you still need to continue to be faithful. Obedience is your victory. Staying faithful is the victory. Hey, you ran. You didn't get the outcome you expected. What you need to do is you need to keep walking with him anyway. And let's not do it to get something in return, but we can do it so we can develop a relationship with him. Developing a relationship with Christ is the, the simple yet most utter important thing that you can do in your life. Okay? Number two is realign your heart. Ask, would I still follow Jesus if I never won again? If the answer is no, it is time to let God reshape your motives. And I'll be honest, can I be honest with you guys? I one time thought about would I rather choose God or choose a medal? And I knew the right answer. And I remember one time in my life I hesitated, like I hesitated and I was like, man, like I really just, I just wanna win, right? And I, and I get it right, we're in the world. Sometimes the worldly, our flesh can take over. And I realized that obviously I needed to check myself because. That can't be hesitation, right? So this is what we have to do. We have to reshape our motives. And I think that God can reshape your motives. God will reshape your motives. If you ask him and you believe that he can, he'll start to work on your heart and it will change you forever. So let's do that because the things of this world they will all perish. Even if you do win one day, It's gonna be gone. It's not eternal. Okay. So remember, you gotta focus on eternal things. Things that are gonna last forever, and your relationship with Christ is one of those things. so number three. Remember who you are. You're not a reflection of your last time on the clock. You're not a reflection of your personal best. You're not a reflection of your last raise. You're a reflection of Jesus Christ. Ephesians one, five says, God decided in advance to adopt us into His family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So let me pray for you. God, I thought if I did everything right, you would give me the win, but now I realize this was never about the medal. It's about my heart. It's about my relationship with you. So help me to follow you for who you are, not just for what I want. Refine me through every loss and remind me, obedience is the reward. Amen. Hey, you don't run poorly because God forgot about you. He didn't forget about you because you lost. Guess what? He's shaping something eternal in you, not just for the track, but for your soul. If this encouraged you today, share it with another athlete who needs to hear this, and if you're still trying to figure out how to balance faith in sport. I'm gonna let you know right now you are not alone. Keep showing up. Keep trusting God. And remember, defeat is optional when your hope is in Christ. I'm Ronnie Baker and I'll see you in the next one.