As you look back at your career, are there any coaches that stand out to you, those who were able to get more out of you than you thought you could give? These coaches have X-ray vision into the depths of our lives and have the ability to draw out something that we ourselves don’t even see or realize.

For me, it was my high school basketball coach, Coach Kizer. In my first year playing for him, he would speak to me as one of the leaders of the team; he would continue to emphasize characteristics of my game that I didn’t quite see or understand yet.

He would praise the positive decisions and actions; and then in my mistakes and failures, he would remind me of what he saw in me, the player inside, not the mistakes.

He defined me and empowered me based on what he saw and believed about me, not on how I did as a player.

He painted a picture of this player that I didn’t quite yet see or even realize I could be.

Have you ever had a coach like that? A coach that saw something in you that you didn’t quite see in yourself? And over time, that player began to take shape. The man of understanding will draw out the depths of an athlete’s heart; he sees who he/she is and brings it to the surface.

Paul begins his letter to the church at Ephesus by reminding them who they are in Christ. Paul emphasizes their true identity as a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Paul welcomes and greets them and then goes right into the depths of their hearts.

He calls out and reminds them who they are: children of the King; accepted by their heavenly Father; adopted into God’s family; called to be holy and blameless; part of God’s inheritance as well as having their own inheritance; completely forgiven of their sin; have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms; united with Christ; grace has been poured out upon them; showered with kindness.

The mysteries of God have been revealed to them to fulfill God’s good plan.

And the crazy thing is that all of that is just in the first chapter of Ephesians! There are many, many more descriptors of who we are in Christ throughout the New Testament. Paul is reminding the church who they are Christ, reaching into the depths of their hearts and drawing it out.

Athlete, looking at that list, what are one or two descriptions of who you are in Christ that you can take hold of today to live out your faith in Him and honor God within your competition?