Is there anything in the coaching world that could be accurately described as “unfailing”? You can precisely execute your game plan and still fail to win. You can be thoughtful and intentional about every dimension of your program and still have seasons marked by failure as much as success. You can have 5-star players and yet they still fail sometimes in the midst of competition.

But you do have access to one thing that is truly unfailing – and this can make all the difference for you as a coach. In the Bible, one of the most common terms used to describe God’s love for us is “unfailing.” Exodus 13:5 says, “With your unfailing love you lead the people you have redeemed.”  According to Psalm 32:10, “Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord.” In Psalm 130:7 we’re instructed to “hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is unfailing love.” These are just a few of the over thirty times that the Bible speaks of God’s “unfailing love.”

Being loved with an unfailing love sounds great, but how can we be sure that God actually loves us in this way? The definitive answer is found in what God did for us through his Son, Jesus: “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)

A coach who lives with confidence in God is a different kind of coach.  Confidence in God comes as we know his character. One thing we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt about God’s character is that he is love (1 John 4:16). God loves us with an unfailing love – meaning, his love for us doesn’t ebb or flow depending on the kind of day we’re having, and God’s love for us will accomplish its amazing purposes in our life as we receive it and respond to him.

When you live with confidence in God’s unfailing love for you, how does this make you a different kind of coach? You can coach and live with true freedom because you don’t have to try to prove yourself. You’re already loved by God unfailingly. You can love well those you coach, treating them with the same goodness and grace you receive from Jesus whether they’re easy or hard to coach. And whatever happens on the field of competition, you can experience security and peace in Christ because you know his love for you is real and unfailing. Coach, be confident in this: God loves you with an unfailing love, and he’s proven this through what his Son, Jesus, has done for you. He leads you out of this love, and he surrounds you with this love. Put your hope daily in the Lord and his unfailing love for you.