Posted June 25, 2026
After America’s World Cup victory over Australia last Friday, Christian Pulisic shared a photo on Instagram showing several US players gathered in a circle on the field, their heads bowed in prayer. His teammate Mark McKenzie responded by referencing Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 and its reminder that “a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (v. 12).
The American players are by no means unique in demonstrating their faith. After Germany defeated Curaçao recently, players from both teams gathered together to pray on the field. German midfielder Felix Nmecha later explained: “Overall, we all believe that Jesus is glorified through the game. During the game, we are opponents facing one another, but after the match, we are all Christians, and we are like brothers.”
However, such faith is no guarantee that Christians will not suffer and struggle as do others. Natural disasters such as the two earthquakes that struck Venezuela yesterday, likely killing thousands, affect believers and nonbelievers alike.
Closer to home, Camp Mystic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on Wednesday, nearly a year after catastrophic floods killed twenty-five girls and two teenage counselors at the all-girls Christian camp in central Texas. Camp owner Richard Eastland, a friend of mine, also died in the flood.
If faith does not protect us from trials, what good is it? If your car breaks down when you need it most, you’ll get a different car. If your medication does not lessen your headaches, you’ll try a different prescription.
It’s not just that Christians often suffer as do nonbelievers—many Christians suffer more than nonbelievers. Atheists in China fare far better at the hands of their Communist government than do Christians, whose churches are being demolished and their leaders imprisoned. Across my many trips to Cuba, I met believers who were assigned the worst jobs and whose children were relegated to the worst schools because of their commitment to Jesus. (For more, see our latest podcast episode, “Faith Under Fire: The Global Crisis of Religious Persecution.”)
You may be facing challenges today for which your faith does not seem relevant. You may even be suffering because of your faith. If not today, perhaps tomorrow.
Let’s respond with wisdom that leads to the hope our hearts need most.
In his Free Press review of J. D. Vance’s new memoir, the esteemed Princeton professor Robert P. George writes:
I tell my students, and my own children—and I often have occasion to remind myself—that there are certain things that matter but, at the end of the day, not all that much: wealth, status, influence, power, prestige, celebrity. These things are not in themselves evil; indeed, they can be used for good purposes. But they are not ends in themselves.
Now contrast these things with the things that are indeed worthwhile for their own sake: faith, family, friendship, knowledge, wisdom, beauty, honesty, decency, respect. These things are intrinsically, and not merely instrumentally, valuable. They are constitutive aspects of our flourishing as human beings.
Prof. George cites the distinction made by cultural commentator David Brooks between the “résumé virtues” and the “eulogy virtues.” As Brooks noted, “The résumé virtues are the skills you bring to the marketplace. The eulogy virtues are the ones that are talked about at your funeral.”
Brooks added, “External ambitions are never satisfied because there’s always something more to achieve.” By contrast, he observed, “People on the road to inner light do not find their vocations by asking, ‘What do I want from life?’ They ask, ‘What is life asking of me? How can I match my intrinsic talent with one of the world’s deep needs?’”
As the theologian and novelist Frederick Buechner famously stated, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
When we find and live in that “place,” we experience the hope of Jesus in ways that redeem and transcend suffering and even persecution. This is not because our faith is sufficient—it is because the Object of our faith is omnipotent.
This week, we’ve discussed the plurality and pluralism of American religion, focusing on the uniqueness of the Christian faith as centered in our sinless Savior. Such uniqueness is found not only in Jesus’ teachings but especially in the fact that our Teacher also empowers us to obey what he taught.
Buddhists follow the teachings of Buddha, but he does not reside in them to guide and strengthen them. Muslims follow the teachings of Muhammad, but he is not living in their hearts to help.
By contrast, our faith is unique not only because we pray to a risen Savior, but because our risen Savior prays for us (Romans 8:34). What’s more, the living Christ lives in Christians by his Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). He not only intercedes for us—he works within us.
And he uses our worst pain and deepest fear to draw us from self-reliance into Spirit-dependence so he can redeem our suffering for his greatest glory and our greatest good.
The prophet therefore exhorted us, “Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lᴏʀᴅ and rely on his God” (Isaiah 50:10). The German theologian Jürgen Moltmann observed,
“Faith does not grow in spite of suffering, but through suffering, when hope learns to contradict reality.”
Why do you need such hope today?
“God so suffered for the world that he gave up his only Son to suffering.” —Nicholas Wolterstorff
The post Soccer players glorify Jesus on the biggest stage in sports appeared first on Denison Forum.
