The Christian ties that bind Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith and Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy have been affirming and beneficial for the most part, but that may be because the major secular papers don’t get into the details of faith that the Christian Post might.

The Post reports that Coach Dungy will pray on his team for Super Bowl XLI, joined by the assistant coach’s father, an ordained Evangelical Covenant Church minister. The minister will join Dungy on the sidelines.

Former player Chuck Mills would have us know that “when it comes to football, God is prejudiced — toward big, fast kids.” Sportswriter Heywood Broun reported, “God, as some cynic has said, is always on the side which has the best football coach.”

Towards the end of the Post article, Dungy talks about what Christianity means to him:

Standing one week away from Super Bowl XLI, Dungy calls the Bible life’s playbook.

“It provides answers to the biggest questions life has,” he stated.

“If we follow the guidance in the Bible, we will be winners in the eyes of God. Success in God’s eyes involves having peace of mind, spiritual victory and an inner happiness that circumstances cannot change.”

Perhaps Coach Dungy had a larger explanation and the writer cut it down, or maybe this was the extent of the coach’s commentary, but the “incomplete” signal has to be thrown here.

A seasoned Christian could fill in the blanks in this confession, if life’s biggest questions involve the Fall, original sin, the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the atonement; if following “the guidance” in the Bible means being baptized and believing that Christ has died for me.

Does that “success in God’s eyes” come as a result of having peace of mind, spiritual victory, etc., or the other way around? Usually when I use the word “involves” I mean “requires,” not “results in.”

This gets to be important, because if following the guidance in the Bible means following the Ten Commandments, or the Sermon on the Mount, or every regulation in the Pentateuch, we are not “winners in the eyes of God.” Those rules grant no wins to anyone. Just being a good person, without believing in the “blanks” above, sends you to hell without a highlight reel.

Success in God’s eyes is you no longer denying what he has done for you, getting baptized, consistently reading His Word, and participating in the sacraments. Only then do you have peace of mind with respect to your post-judgment whereabouts, no matter what is happening to you in the present.

I don’t mind the minister on the sidelines, provided he delivers Law and Gospel, confession and absolution, Word and Sacrament to those men. Prayers for good health, good sportsmanship, and good performance are fine, too. It might be prudent to have a pastor with the ambulance and with each team at every game. :)

If you have the opportunity to represent Christianity to the 90+ millions of people watching in the stands and watching on the TV, don’t treat it like it’s Scientology. Don’t preach its utility. Give the account of the hope that is within you (1 Peter 3:15). Confess the truth.