What is the difference between professional atheletes and church league?

Daily life and disciplines affect the ability to react and make the right decisions in moments of crisis, or “on the spot,” or in the game. Most of the Christians in today’s church are just in the church league. They gather for a once a week for practice—to hear what Jesus did in the difficult decisions of life, and then go out to play the game.

If we believe that Jesus was a human just like us, and that he made the right decisions—then it is not merely the decisions we can focus on, not just the question “what would Jesus do.” Instead we need to ask, “how did Jesus prepare himself each day, so that he was able to make the right decisions and respond in a Godly way when he was “on the spot?”

See the example of a professional athelete on pp.3-4 of “The Spirit of the Disciplines,” Dallas Willard; Harper and Row; 1988.