Quote

My faith is the most important thing in my life it is the thing that keeps me grounded. The moment I started to really enjoy my life…was when I surrendered to God.

Christian McCaffrey

Real Life

Christian McCaffrey’s professional sports career started when he was the eighth overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft.

He had been an outstanding footballer at high school and in college and in his rookie NFL season he broke records. McCaffrey is a Running Back for the San Francisco 49ers.

Apart from an injury-ridden 2021, McCaffrey has been ranked in the top 50 of the NFL Top 100 Players every year since 2018. McCaffrey’s success, has been consistent and sustained with numerous NFL records and a start in a Superbowl. Throughout his career he has remained hungry to improve, driven to achieve and by all accounts, grounded in his personal life. In the midst of such fame, success and wealth, how has he managed to do so? He says it is due to his personal faith which he describes as the most important thing in his life. McCaffrey says that when you have a bunch of people calling your name, it’s important to remember who gave you the ability and opportunity to do what you are doing and to make sure you give the honour and glory back to that person, God. He tries not to hold too tightly the success and fame he has received, having discovered that good things may come and go and but God remains consistent in his life.

If we are relying on success in sport to sustain our feelgood factor in life, we are in a vulnerable place. While McCaffrey has had many amazing successes, he has also had tough times. God is his place of strength and stability. By entrusting his hopes and dreams to God, he is able to enjoy the successes and ride out the failures without letting them consume him. If we can keep God the main thing in our life, then our perspective on everything else is infinitely healthier.

Bible Verse

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?

Mark 8:35-36

Prayer

Lord please help my hunger for sporting success to never supersede my hunger for You. May You always have Your rightful place in my life.

Author: Sarah Auld   |   Content Editor: Phil Pawley