A decade ago, the Golden State Warriors were regular cellar dwellers.
These days, we hear that team often mentioned in ESPN. Coupled with the team is a name that is consequentially mentioned – Steph Curry.
The son of a 16 year NBA veteran, Dell Curry, has made it big. But in spite of his athletic success, he forgets not the reason why he was given this platform.
In the website of Fellowship of Christian Athletes, he had this to share:
I remember it like it was yesterday, the day I gave my life to Christ. I was in fourth grade, and I recall hearing and understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ and walking down the aisle to give my life to Him. My parents continued to pour into my faith from that point on, making sure I understood the commitment I’d just made. Starting in middle school I attended Charlotte Christian School, which allowed me to hear the gospel on a daily basis. Looking back, my childhood was filled with the Lord’s presence.
Some of us might have seen him thump his chest and point his index finger upward after making a shot. In an interview with Decision Magazine , he explains that it was a trademark he and his mother came up with as an outward sign and internal reminder that God gets the glory for his success.
Steph explains furthermore.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of hoopla and fanfare that follows you wherever you go, but I know where my talent comes from.”
“I know why I play the game, and it’s not to score 30 points a night, but it’s to use the stage I’m on. I’ve been put here for a specific purpose: to be a witness and to share my testimony as I go through it.”
In a column last year for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes website, Steph wrote that he loves to point people toward “the Man who died for our sins on the cross. I know I have a place in Heaven waiting for me because of Him, and that’s something no earthly prize or trophy could ever top.”
“I love to play the game, and I love when good things happen,” he said. “But when I get home, it’s about my family and just enjoying the blessings in my life without letting [basketball] define my personality or my character.”
May of this year (2015), Steph received the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award. He started his acceptance speech saying: “First and foremost I have to thank my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for blessing me with the talents to play this game, with the family to support me, day in, day out. I’m his humble servant right now and I can’t say enough how important my faith is to who I am and how I play the game.”
One Q&A session, Curry spoke in detail about his faith after one member of the media asked him about the meaning of the 4:13 that he made sure was placed at the bottom of some of the sneakers’ tongues. Inside the tongue reads, “I can do all things,” which comes from Philippians 4:13 which reads “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
“It represents a Bible verse I wear on my shoe,” Curry explains to the press, according to Rapzilla reports. “Philippians 4:13. It says ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ It’s also my mantra, how I get up for games and why I play the way I do.”
His life reminds me of James 4:6 that says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
May we all be encouraged to use whatever platform God has given to ultimately bring praise and honor to His name and His name alone.
