July 22, 2026
Most of the world (at last count 1 1/2 billion!) were watching the World Cup last week. The “beautiful game”. The world’s most popular game called “football”( which we call “soccer”). It was intriguing and almost addictive. But beyond the televised drama there were several social media posts with pics of opposing teammates in prayer huddles after the games. Added to that were personal testimonials from star players about their faith in Jesus. These were bookended by strong statements of faith from Spain’s winning manager Luis de la Fuente. He spoke boldly about his faith stating that life had no meaning without belief and trust in God.
Who knew that the World Cup would become a platform for evangelism?
There is, or should be, a caveat however. Jesus made it clear that verbal profession of faith must be accompanied by a life and lifestyle of faith. “By their fruit you shall know them”, he said about true disciples. The apostle Paul stressed “the fruit of the Spirit” as vital evidence of sustainable faith. Or as the famous theologian/philosopher Soren Kierkegaard put it, ”Mere mental assent to a doctrine is not enough. Where there’s no transformation there’s no Christianity”. The scripture tells us that even the devils believe and they do something many verbal Christians never do – they “tremble”.
So it’s encouraging to see and hear world famous sportsmen state their faith. But the old adage still applies: we must “practise what we preach”.
