It is striking how difficult it can be to order ones loves toward the gymnasium. When it comes to bodily training, it is often feast or famine. One family lives for their boys to play basketball and another family insists that bouncing inflated leather is of no value at all. Paul’s words are helpful and simple enough: “Bodily exercise [γυμνασία] proffteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things” (1 Timothy 4:8). Paul did not mean that all of your sports are meaningless. And he didn’t mean that physical exercise necessarily stands contrary to piety, not at all. But if you do decide to weigh them in a scale, piety simply profits more.

So take an honest look at what you and your children esteem. Young men, if you know every accolade of Lebron, Curry, and Mahomes and nothing of the victories of Abraham, Moses, Gideon, and other heroes of our faith, then be honest about how your loves are ordered. The Lordship of Christ over your sports involves more than doing the same thing pagans do minus cussing. And entire athletic ecosystems have long forgotten what sports are for. So make sure you remember.