Youth Sports
Let me tell you something about every great team.
The person who scores all the points doesn’t win the game alone. There is always someone who passed them the ball. Someone who defended so the other team couldn’t score. Someone who showed up every day and gave everything even though their name doesn’t end up in the highlights.
Every single person on this team matters. Including you. Especially you.
Read this passage slowly.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!”
1 Corinthians 12:21 — NIVLet that sit for a second before you move.
Paul is talking about how the church works, but it sounds exactly like a sports team. The eye can’t say to the hand “I don’t need you.” The star player can’t say to everyone else “I’ve got this, just watch.” A team that tries to win with one person doing everything doesn’t work. Every part of the body — every person on this team — has a job that matters.
Maybe your job is to score. Maybe it’s to defend. Maybe it’s to be the loudest cheerleader on the bench, making your teammates feel like they can do it. All of those are real jobs. All of them help the team.
So this season, don’t spend your energy wishing you had someone else’s job. Figure out what your job is and do it with everything you’ve got. That’s how teams win.
Every part of the team has a job. Find yours and do it with everything you’ve got.
What is one thing you do for this team that helps, even if nobody always notices it?
Some kids will struggle to answer this. Help them see contributions they’re not crediting themselves for — hustle, cheering, reliability at practice.
Every person on this team matters. That means you.
This devotional is especially important for kids who are not the top players. Deliver it in a way that makes those kids feel genuinely seen, not just told they matter.