One of the classic blessings mentioned in the Bible is ‘hope, joy, peace, trust, power’ – what a positive thing it is if we can get to grips with that promise and live it out on a daily basis.

For sportspeople though life is very much performance driven and being categorized by your performance. You are an Olympian, a sub 11 second/50 second/4 minutes etc runner. You are Division 1, Division 2, Super 15 etc. In sport you cannot get away from that performance mentality. The problem is that each achievement just adds to the pressure. Once you break the barrier, you are expected to be under XX seconds in every race. Win one championship and you are expected to win another.

Last night the NZ Breakers achieved an amazing milestone in sporting terms by winning a third consecutive Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) championship by beating the Perth Wildcats at the ‘fortress of fear ‘ in Perth in Game 2 of the best of three finals.

Today though if you listen to some on talk back on sports radio there is comment about whether the ANBL is a very strong league or not and so the performance of three championships in a row – an achievement in any league, in any sport, anywhere in the world – is diminished in some people’s eye.

What a shame that the Breakers may be left thinking “ will our performance ever be good enough? ” if they take those comments to heart. Thankfully though there is also a large body of people whose opinion is more in line with mine and who want to celebrate this as a fabulous achievement that is a credit to the players, coaching staff, the Breakers organisation & ownership.

On the other side of any contest is the loser, in this case a very fine basketball team & organisation called the Perth Wildcats – so what of their disappointment in their performance?

Christians are promised “joy” which does not depend on our performance.

Former South African international cricketer Peter Pollock – who went on to become SA Cricket’s Convener of Selectors – said: ‘The need to succeed to be happy is a one-way ticket to depression’ and so we should value God’s joy and peace which can be ours still, whatever our level of performance.

The source of this joy and peace is “The God of hope” which reminds us that God has good things and a future for us.