You Are God’s Masterpiece: A Christian Team Devotional on Identity & Purpose

TODAY’S WORD: PURPOSE
SCRIPTURE: EPHESIANS 2:10

One of the hardest things to watch as a coach is a girl begin to believe that who she is depends on how well she performs.

One bad practice. One mistake. Someone else playing better. Not getting the position she wanted. Looking around the gym and deciding everyone else is more talented, more confident, or somehow more enough than she is. Sports have a way of bringing our insecurities to the surface—but that also gives us an incredible opportunity to speak truth into them.

This devotional is about helping our girls understand something I hope they carry with them long after their playing days are over:

Their worth was never something they had to earn.

This devotional is part of More Than the Game: Christian Team Devotions for Girls & Female Athletes, a collection of devotions, challenges, and meaningful creations designed to help us use sports to teach girls truths that extend far beyond the game.

[Explore all More Than the Game devotions →]

---

THE WORD: PURPOSE

There’s a phrase I want these girls to remember:

On purpose, for a purpose.

They aren’t accidents. They don’t need to become someone else. And they don’t need to earn enough approval, accomplishments, friends, playing time, or compliments to finally become valuable. God created them intentionally. And that’s where this devotional begins.

THE WORD OF GOD: EPHESIANS 2:10

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
— Ephesians 2:10

There are three words I want the girls to connect: CREATOR → MASTERPIECE → PURPOSE

He created you. You are His masterpiece. Now go live the purpose He created you for.

THE DEVOTIONAL: YOU ARE GOD’S MASTERPIECE

You are God’s masterpiece. He created you intentionally, uniquely, and on purpose, for a purpose.

Being a teenager is hard. There are so many voices telling you who you should be, what you should look like, what you should be good at, and what you need to change.

And the truth is, every single one of us struggles with insecurity in some way. Some people show it. Some hide it. Some overcompensate for it.

It’s so easy to look at another girl and think: I wish I looked like her. I wish I could play like her. I wish I were as confident, funny, athletic, or popular as her.

But remember this: God didn’t accidentally make you while He was trying to make her.

You aren’t supposed to be her.

You weren’t created to have every gift someone else has.

You were created to be YOU.

Ephesians 2:10 says that we are God’s masterpiece.

Think about that word—masterpiece. A masterpiece is intentional. It is created with care and purpose. The Creator knows exactly what He is making.

And that’s you.

The world will constantly try to tell you that you’re not enough—or that you’re too much. Not pretty enough. Not athletic enough. Not smart enough. Too loud. Too quiet. Too different. But those voices don’t get to define you.

God does.

And God says:

I made you.

I know you.

I chose you.

I love you.

And I have a purpose for you.

Your purpose isn’t to become the girl next to you. It’s to become the person God created YOU to be. And your worth isn’t something you have to earn. You don’t become more valuable when you play well or less valuable when you make a mistake. Your worth doesn’t change based on who chooses you, includes you, compliments you, starts you, or approves of you.

Jesus already settled your worth.

So walk onto the court confidently. Walk into school confidently. Walk into a room confidently.

Not because you think you’re better than everyone else, but because you know Who made you.

You are God’s masterpiece. Don’t spend your life wishing God had made you someone else.

CREATOR → MASTERPIECE → PURPOSE

He created you. You are His masterpiece. Now go live the purpose He created you for.

---

THE GAME: COMPARISON CHANGES HOW WE PLAY

This is where I would bring the conversation back to the team. Comparison doesn’t only affect the girl doing the comparing. Eventually, it can affect the entire team.

When I’m constantly measuring myself against someone else, her success can begin to feel like my failure.

Instead of celebrating her great play, I’m wondering why I couldn’t make it.

Instead of encouraging her, I’m worried about whether she’s taking my position.

Instead of developing the gifts God gave me, I’m distracted by the gifts He gave someone else. But imagine the team culture we can create when our girls understand:

Someone else’s gifts don’t take anything away from mine.

A team doesn’t need every girl to have the same strengths.

One girl may be an incredible athlete. Another may be a natural leader. One may bring energy. Another may be steady under pressure. One may learn quickly while another develops through persistence and hard work.

There is room for all of them.

When a girl becomes secure in who God created her to be, she becomes much freer to celebrate who God created her teammates to be.

And that’s the kind of confidence I want our girls to develop.

Not: “I’m better than her.”

But: “I don’t have to be her.”

THE CHALLENGE: DON’T COMPARE—ENCOURAGE

Give your girls one challenge for practice: DON’T COMPARE. ENCOURAGE. Ask them to intentionally look for something good in another teammate. When someone makes a great play, tell her. When someone learns something new, celebrate her. When someone makes a mistake, build her back up. And when you make a mistake? Learn from it. Shake it off. Get ready for the next ball. You don’t have to diminish someone else’s gifts to recognize your own. There is room to cheer for her and still become everything God created you to be.

THE CREATION: GIVE HER SOMETHING TO REMEMBER

This is the part I especially love.

After talking about a biblical truth with my girls, I like to give them something tangible that connects back to the message. It doesn’t have to be expensive or elaborate. The object itself isn’t really the important part. It’s what they’ll remember when they see it later.

For this devotional, I created A Keychain.

I connected it to the three-part reminder:

CREATOR → MASTERPIECE → PURPOSE

My hope is that when the girls see it later—on a backpack, keychain, bracelet, in their room, or wherever they keep it—they’ll remember:

God made me intentionally.

I am His masterpiece.

I don’t need to become someone else.

There is purpose in the person He created me to be.

You can recreate this idea exactly or use it as inspiration to make something that works for your own girls. Because the creation isn’t the point. The truth it helps her carry with her is.

---

FOR THE COACH

There will always be another skill to teach.

Another drill to run.

Another mistake to correct.

Another game to prepare for.

But somewhere in all of that, we have girls standing in front of us who are figuring out who they are.

We have the opportunity to remind them that their value isn’t determined by a scoreboard, a starting position, a coach’s approval, another girl’s ability, or their latest mistake.

So teach her to serve.

Teach her to shoot.

Teach her to run, jump, compete, communicate, work hard, and get back up.

But while you have her, remind her of something even bigger:

She was created on purpose, for a purpose.

She is God’s masterpiece.

And she never needed to become the girl next to her in the first place.

---

MORE THAN THE GAME

Christian Team Devotions for Girls & Female Athletes

[← Explore the complete More Than the Game Devotional Library]