Game Day Devotional Week 7
Serving One Another
Football Coach Devotional: Serving One Another
Scripture: Galatians 5:13-15
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” (NIV)
The Setup
Every coach knows the feeling. The playbook is installed, the talent is there, and the schedule looks promising. Then the locker room starts to crack. A receiver grumbles about touches. A lineman rolls his eyes at the quarterback. Assistants quietly lobby for their own side of the ball.
Paul was writing to a church in that exact situation. The Galatians had been set free in Christ, and now they were using that freedom to turn on each other. His warning is blunt: bite and devour each other, and you will be destroyed by each other.
Football teams rarely lose only to the opponent across the line. They lose to what happens inside the building.
Freedom Is Not the Same as Self-Interest
Paul says we were called to be free. For a coach, that is good news. You do not have to earn God’s approval with a winning record. Your identity is not your scoreboard, your contract, or your Friday night result.
But Paul immediately points out the trap: freedom can become an excuse to serve ourselves. In coaching, that can sound like:
- “I’ve earned the right to do it my way.”
- “My program, my rules, no one questions me.”
- “I deserve credit for this.”
Paul offers a different picture: serve one another humbly in love. The word he uses for serve carries the idea of a slave’s work. It is the towel-and-basin posture Jesus modeled when He washed His disciples’ feet.
The Coach as Servant-Leader
The strongest teams are not built on fear or ego. They are built on a culture where players and staff know someone is for them.
Serving humbly looks like:
- Staying after practice with the freshman who is struggling to learn the offense, not just the starter.
- Giving credit away to your assistants, your trainers, and the equipment manager who washed the jerseys.
- Listening first when a player is frustrated, before you correct.
- Apologizing when you lose your temper at a player or an official.
- Caring about the 4th-string kid as much as the All-Conference one.
Paul says the whole law is fulfilled in one command: love your neighbor as yourself. In a football program, your neighbor is the player who never sees the field on Friday night.
Watch Out for the Bite
Paul’s warning is vivid. Biting and devouring is what happens when competition turns into contempt. On a football team it can look like:
- Players tearing down teammates on social media
- Cliques between offense and defense, or upperclassmen and underclassmen
- Staff members undermining each other behind closed doors
- Coaches who belittle players to “toughen them up”
Competition itself is not the problem. Fellowship of Christian Athletes has always held that we compete with excellence and integrity, to the glory of God. The problem begins when we stop seeing teammates as brothers and start seeing them as rivals.
Reflection Questions
- Where might I be using my authority or freedom to serve myself rather than my players?
- Who on my team or staff feels overlooked right now? What would it look like to serve them this week?
- Is there a “biting” culture in my locker room? What have I tolerated or modeled that feeds it?
- Do my players know I love them before they know my expectations?
Game Plan for This Week
- Serve someone unseen. Find one player or staff member who rarely gets attention and invest time in them.
- Name the culture. Share Galatians 5:13-15 with your team or staff and talk about what it means to serve one another.
- Make it right. If there is a relationship in your program that has been damaged, take the first step toward restoring it.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for the freedom we have in Christ. Forgive us for the times we use it to serve ourselves, our egos, or our records. Teach us to lead like Jesus, with humility and love. Help us build programs where every player and coach knows they are valued, and where we compete hard without tearing each other down. Let our teams reflect Your love on and off the field. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Coach’s Challenge: Win with love. Lead by serving.
