“God uses sports for spiritual lessons”

The devotional reading of the Bible keeps being a challenge for many believers.

The Spanish writer and speaker Jaime Fernández, has just published a new Bible devotional book, which also has sports stories that help to see the practical application of the Bible teachings. It aims to help readers develop a daily relationship with God.

In Sin Límites (‘Without limits’) Jaime Fernández brings dynamic and creative stories for the 365 days of the year. Some chapters include QR codes that lead to videos which summarise several books of the Bible.

Q. When you leaf through the book, you can see that you are still a great sports follower, something that we already perceive in your previous books and articles on Evangelical Focus. What attracts you so much about sports?

A. All sociologists tell us that we can reach almost 100% of the population through sports, music or film and art stories.

We have the resources to use these stories. Jesus was the best storyteller, the best teacher of mankind, because he applied the stories to personal life. He took stories from experience and applied them to the kingdom - it is impressive to read them in the gospels.

Today, even in the most remote places in the world, sports generate admiration. In the Bible there are almost 100 direct and indirect references to sports.

If God already used sports for spiritual lessons then, we can use it much more.

There are many values in sports that are very close to Christian values: teamwork, discipline, fighting for a goal, helping others, serving each other for a general good.. These are worthwhile values and that's why I continue using these sports stories.

Question. ‘Without limits’ is a new devotional book that encourages us to read the Bible every day. Is it possible that today, with all the possibilities that we have, the Bible remains unknown to many Christians?

Answer. The fact that we live in a post-Christian world is partly our fault, of those of us who love the Lord. We Christians are the ones who often do not know much of the Bible. At times we are not aware of the beauty of the Word of God, and the fact that every book is there for a reason.

Many people, even leaders, do not know why a book is there in their Bible. Sometimes we do not know why it was written or the teachings it has, so we lose part of the character of God and many amazing treasures in Scripture.

Through the Holy Spirit, God inspired each author to write His Word, but preserving each one's personality.

It would be good to get used to reading the entire book at once, straight, not just some chapters and verses. There are treasures like the book of Isaiah that seem to have been written for the church today.

If we ignore so many books of the Bible and we just read only some of them, we will not know God and His character fully.

Q. The book has a simple structure, but also some more resources. What will readers find when scanning those QRs that come in some chapters?

A. I do not want ‘Without limits’ readers to just read a devotional, because sometimes people get used to that, and they would not go deeper into the Word of God. It is good to read something every day, as a discipline, but also to feel the love of being with the Lord, not spending a day without being with Him.

The book helps us to pray, helps us to read the Bible in a year, which can be done simply by reading three chapters a day. The QR codes present a summary of each book of the Bible in 2 or 3 minutes.

When you tell someone that reading a book of the Bible has touched you personally, you encourage others to do so. It is important to give the greatest amount of resources for people to love God again by reading his Word.

A. With the sports stories, people who don't know God get hooked and realise that God is the most extraordinary being there is. It is a surprise to many, but the stories are about normal people, not just believers.

You can get a spiritual application from any situation in life, but these stories also help them to see that God is the most imaginative and creative being.

Sometimes we give the impression that the Bible is a religious book, but it is much more than that. The gospel is good news.

The Bible is God's love letter to man, it tells us about our situation. But non-believers do not know that. Therefore, when they realise that it is a book that can touch their hearts, they become passionate about reading it and begin to try to understand each phrase and apply it to their lives.

When you see this in a non-believer, it is something exciting and extraordinary - to see how God is transforming the heart.

Read stories about sports and faith on Jaime Fernández’s column “Finish Line”.