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Undoubtedly many of you, like me, enjoy sports. That’s a common practice for us Americans. Well, if you watch sports competition very often, you’re familiar with the term “playing hurt.” Many times in these games a key player will be injured in some way, and you’ll see them slowly pull themselves up off the ground or the floor. You know they’re hurting, but so often they stay in the game. I think we can learn something from these athletes.
When a player continues to play even though he or she is hurt, you know you’re watching a real pro, someone truly committed to their game. That person is willing to sacrifice herself or himself for the good of the team.
Well, there are times in our lives that we must play hurt. What do you want to do when you’ve been hurt? Suppose someone has trampled on your feelings or been very cruel to you. It makes you want to go to the sidelines and lick your wounds, doesn’t it? It throws you into a pity-party, and your first reaction is to walk out of the game and say, “Forget it. Who needs this!”
But a true servant of Jesus Christ many times has to play hurt. Jesus is looking for people with perseverance; people who play in spite of the pain; people who stay in the game even though they might want to go sit on the bench for awhile.
Paul wrote to Timothy that he must Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:3). In Hebrews 12 we see that hardship produces discipline in our lives, and Paul wrote to the Corinthians that he delighted in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions and difficulties for “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10b).
Are you hurt ? Well, are you going to go sit on the sidelines and lick your wounds, or will you choose to endure hardship as a good soldier would? Ask God to give you the grace and strength to play hurt.
