Anthony Kevin “Tony” Dungy is a former professional football player and the former head coach of the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League. Prior to that, between 1996 and 2001, he was the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He became the first African American head coach to win the Super Bowl when his Colts defeated the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. He is the third person in the history of the NFL (along with Mike Ditka and Tom Flores) to win Super Bowls as a player and a head coach.

But there is something in his life that is more important than football. In his own words...

You are never going to get anywhere in sports or in life until you become convinced of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 Oh, sure, you may become a professional athlete or have fame and nice cars and nice houses and a lot of money, but what you’ll find is that all of that stuff goes away pretty quickly. You have to understand that Christ died for our sins, and that He died not just to be our Savior but so that He could be the center of our lives. And if you understand that, then you have to be committed to it. You have to be sold out to it—re-gardless of the role that God wants you to play.

We’d all like to be the quarterback. We’d all like to be the star. We’d all like to be the guy who gets all the attention. But God may just want you to come off the bench. And you can’t say, “That’s not for me. I can’t come off the bench.” You’ve got to say, “God, if that’s what you want, if that’s what it’s going to take to make us a winning team, then bring me off the bench because I’m convinced of Your plan and Your program.” That’s what it takes to be a winner.

Being “sold out to Jesus” means you must be steadfast and a little stubborn. Just as that verse in 1 Corinthians 15:58 says, “Stand firm, don’t be moved,” even when it’s not popular. I know I’ve lost some jobs because the owners who interviewed me asked me, “Is getting to the Super Bowl the most important thing in your life? Can I count on you to be there 24 hours a day and be available around the clock to do whatever it takes to win a Super Bowl?” And my response

was, “No. No you can’t. Because if that’s what it takes to have this job, then I don’t want it.” It may not be popular. It may not always get you ahead. But you have to stand firm in your convictions.

Being steadfast and handling adversity. That’s what a winner does. Satan is going to bring adversity into your life, no question about it. God is going to allow it at times to test us and see where we’re at. But as a Christian, I have to understand the second part of John 16:33. It says, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” And as a

Christian, that’s how we have to handle it—by letting Christ handle it. We may not be able to handle all the adversity, but Christ definitely can. Even when it doesn’t turn out the way we’d like it to.

Sometimes God saves us from terrible situations, but sometimes He chooses not to. John the Baptist is a good example of that. The Bible says that he was the greatest man born to a woman, yet John the Baptist ended up in prison at the end of his life and wound up being beheaded. That tripped me out for a long time. I kept saying, “God, how could you do that? Here is the greatest guy you put here and you let him finish like that?” And the Lord tells me, “Hey, don’t worry about that. I have overcome the world.”

But as I said, it all starts with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It starts with asking Jesus to be your Savior.

Have you done that? 

If you would like to accept Tony Dungy’s invitation:

A.Admit you have sinned.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

B.Believe in Jesus.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

C. Confess and leave your sin behind.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

You can confirm your
decision in a prayer to God.

Dear God,

Thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to earth to live and die for me on the cross. I thank You for the gift of forgiveness of sin that You offer me now. I am sorry for anything and everything I have ever done that is unworthy in Your sight. I accept the fact that Jesus died to pay for all of my sins and through Him, I am now given forgiveness on this earth and eternal life in heaven. Amen.