Collegiate Game Day Devo Week 7
Grounded in the Grind
The Middle of the Season
By week 7, the excitement of fall camp is gone and the end of the season is still out of sight. Your players are banged up. You’re running on short sleep, game-planning at midnight, and recruiting calls keep stacking up. Your record may be better or worse than you hoped, but either way the grind is real.
Paul wrote Colossians from a prison cell. He wasn’t pacing a sideline. He was chained, and he still opened his letter with thanksgiving.
Faith, Love, and Hope (vv. 3-5)
Paul thanks God for three things he’s heard about the Colossians: their faith in Christ, their love for all God’s people, and the hope stored up for them in heaven. He doesn’t mention their résumé, their numbers, or their influence.
It’s worth asking what people would say about your program if they could only name three things. Wins and losses might make the list, but would faith, love, and hope? Paul measures a healthy church by who they trust, how they treat people, and what they’re anchored to. A healthy program can be measured the same way.
Your hope also determines how you handle Saturday. If your hope lives in the scoreboard, you’ll be inflated after a win and crushed after a loss. If it’s “stored up in heaven,” as Paul puts it, you can coach with intensity and still be steady, because the outcome of a game isn’t holding up your identity.
Fruit That Keeps Growing (vv. 6-7)
Paul says the gospel is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, and that it did the same in Colossae from the day they truly understood God’s grace. Then he credits Epaphras, a faithful servant who taught them and was there for them.
Epaphras isn’t famous. He’s the position coach, the strength staff member, the guy who does the daily work that never makes the highlight reel. Growth in a young man’s life rarely comes from one big speech. It comes from faithful people showing up in week 7 the same way they did in week 1.
You may be Epaphras to a player this season. The 19-year-old in your meeting room may not remember your game plan in ten years, but he will remember whether you were faithful with him.
Praying for More Than Wins (vv. 9-11)
Paul says he hasn’t stopped praying for them, and look at what he asks for. He doesn’t ask for success, comfort, or an easier schedule. He asks that they be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, that they live in a way that honors the Lord and pleases him, that they bear fruit in every good work, and that they be strengthened with God’s glorious power so they can endure and be patient, with joy.
Notice that endurance and patience come from being strengthened by God’s power. Paul doesn’t tell them to dig deeper or try harder. In a profession built on self-reliance, that’s a different source of strength. You can’t generate enough energy by yourself to carry a staff and a roster through November. God offers the power, and the joy that goes with it, and week 7 is a good time to ask for it.
Rescued and Brought In (vv. 12-13)
Paul closes this section by reminding them they’ve been qualified to share in an inheritance, rescued from the dominion of darkness, and brought into the kingdom of God’s Son. You didn’t earn your place in that family, and a losing streak can’t revoke it. That frees you to coach hard without carrying the fear that everything depends on you.
Reflection Questions
- If someone described your program using only faith, love, and hope, what would they say? Where do you want to grow?
- Who is your Epaphras, the person faithfully investing in you? Who are you faithfully investing in right now?
- Paul prays for endurance and patience with joy. Where have you lost joy in the grind, and what would it look like to ask God to restore it?
- Where are you looking to the scoreboard for what only God can give?
Prayer
Lord, thank you for this week and this season. We confess how often we measure ourselves by wins and losses. Fill us with the knowledge of your will, and give us your strength for the days when we’re tired. Help us to be faithful to our players, our staff, and our families, like Epaphras was faithful to the Colossians. Remind us that we’ve been rescued and brought into your Son’s kingdom, and let that shape how we coach this Saturday. Amen.
I can adjust the tone or length, or add a short “coach’s challenge” for the week if that would be useful.
