The quiet ride home after a devastating loss is one of the loneliest places in sports. The stadium lights are off, the fans are gone, and your mind is stuck on a loop of “what-ifs.” Did I make the wrong substitution? Should we have run a different play? Why did that referee miss such an obvious call?
In the high-stakes, performance-driven world of coaching, it is easy for your win-loss record or trophy case to become the barometer of your spiritual health. When you’re winning, you feel close to God; when you're losing, you feel distant. But what if your spiritual life didn’t have to ride the emotional roller coaster of the competitive season?
In his book 50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith, theologian Gregg Allison unpacks the doctrine of divine providence—the truth that God actively sustains, cooperates with, and directs his creation. For a coach, anchoring your soul in providence is the ultimate defense against anxiety, identity theft, and spiritual burnout.
Allison notes that preservation is God’s ongoing work to maintain creation and keep things functioning as he designed them. In a coach’s spiritual life, this provides a profound reality check: God is the one sustaining you. Your standing before him does not fluctuate based on your team’s shooting percentage or field goal accuracy.
When we buy into the toxic side of sports culture, we can fall into a form of practical deism. We believe God saved us, but we assume he has now stepped back to watch us perform. We tie our spiritual value to our professional success. Biblical providence reminds us that God is intimately involved in the fabric of your daily life. He designed your unique leadership wiring, placed you in your specific program, and preserves your soul through every mountaintop victory and valley of defeat. You are a child of God who happens to coach, not a coach trying to earn God’s favor.
One of the biggest spiritual pitfalls Allison warns against is hyper-responsibility—the belief that the success of God’s work depends entirely on human effort and grit. In coaching, this looks like carrying the weight of the entire program on your shoulders. You aren’t just trying to manage playing time; you’re trying to control outcomes, player attitudes, and parental expectations.
This is a fast track to spiritual exhaustion. It ignores what theologians call concurrence—the reality that God dynamically cooperates with His creation. You are a co-laborer, not the ultimate savior of your team.
When you realize that God’s government ensures his grand, redemptive purposes will be accomplished (Isaiah 14:27), the paralyzing pressure vanishes. You can work hard, prepare diligently, and then actually sleep at night, knowing you aren’t the one keeping the world spinning.
How do we weave this into our daily walk with God? It starts by shifting our prayers from demanding specific outcomes to practicing holy surrender. James 4:15 challenges our presumptuous culture by reminding us to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” It can look as simple as an intentional, small prayer like this"Lord, I am going to coach with everything I have today. But I acknowledge that You are sovereign over the whistles, the bounces, and the final score. Protect my identity from the outcome, and use this game to shape my character and glorify your name."
When your spiritual life is anchored in providence, a losing streak ceases to be a cosmic punishment and becomes a classroom for endurance. A championship ceases to be an idol of self-validation and becomes a platform for humility.
Ultimately, Allison’s teaching reminds us that God’s plan cannot be frustrated. You can take a deep breath and blow your whistle with joy. You are responsible for your integrity, your effort, and how you love your athletes. You are not responsible for controlling outcomes.
🤔Reflect: When you look at your current season or offseason, what is the biggest anxiety you are carrying that you need to intentionally hand over to God’s providence today?