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Key Bible Verse: You must not have any other god but me. (Exodus 20:3) Dig Deeper: Isaiah 43:10-11

Late one evening in our room [at the Steelers training camp], I told Donnie Shell, "I don't know that I'm going to make this team. … There are other new guys who are looking to do what I did last year—take somebody's spot. This is just not going according to plan."

"Tony, I think you're at a crossroads," Donnie said. " … You tell everybody that God has first place in your life. Now, when your career looks like it's teetering, we're getting a chance to see what really is in first place for you."

I thought about that all day and then came back to the conversation with Donnie.

"You're probably right," I told him. "I feel like I've been learning from [Christian guys like you] and growing. … But all of a sudden, I come to a crisis point, and I begin to panic. …"

Donnie measured me squarely: "All the Lord is trying to do is find out what's in first place in your life, and right now, it looks like football is."

I immediately knew Donnie was right, and I felt convicted.

It was the first time I was able to look at football as something God was allowing me to do, not something that should define me. I had to consciously make sure that God was in first place.

—Tony Dungy in Quiet Strength

My Response: If my neighbors were asked what has first place in my life, they would probably say I value this the most: …

Thought to Apply: Whatever a man seeks, honors, or exalts more than God, this is the god of his idolatry.—William B. Ullathorne (British Benedictine monk, bishop)

Adapted from Quiet Strength (Tyndale, 2007) by permission; All rights reserved by the copyright holder and/or the publisher. May not be reproduced.

Copyright © 2010 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Prayer for the Week

Lord, it's easy to say I follow you; it's much harder to show it by the way I live; help me, with your empowering Spirit, to choose daily to live in obedience to your calling.

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