The Six Nations Rugby Championship this year was won by France who were just one point ahead of England although England narrowly won their match against France. England had a new captain this year. Maro Itoje, the captain of Saracens, plays as a lock and has won 90 caps. Maro is a Christian and said he was “incredibly humbled and honouerd” to be asked to be England captain. In 2022 he told The Guardian, “Christianity shapes my moral code. It shapes the person I am and the person I want to be. My background is Nigerian, and we tend to be religious people. I know that all I have been given in life is through God’s grace. That keeps me humble and grateful.” He has also said: “Everything I am doing is not within my power, it’s through God’s power. It’s about giving all the praise and glory back to him.”
The England Manager, Steve Borthwick, said Maro’s calmness and high standards are reasons why he felt he was the right man to captain the team. Steve said, “He’s a calm, influential leader, renowned for his commitment to upholding high standards and his ability to motivate those around him. His strong rapport with the squad and coaches, combined with his leadership experience at Saracens, makes him ideally placed to take on this responsibility.” One way in which Maro’s calmness is demonstrated is his refusal to swear or use foul language during matches, a responsibility he has joked that he leaves to his teammates!
One of the signs of the poor spiritual state of our society is the significant increase in the use of foul language. Some people seem unable to speak a sentence without a liberal sprinkling of four-letter words. Jesus said that our words reveal the spiritual condition of our hearts: “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.” He also said that God will hold us to account for the way we speak: “I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak.”
In the 1904 spiritual revival in Wales 100,000 people were converted and their lives were dramatically changed for the better. Some of those who were converted were coal miners. Their working life was very hard and before they were converted foul language was very common. When they came to know the Lord Jesus as their saviour they stopped swearing and the pit ponies couldn’t understand their commands! They were new men, and the Holy Spirit lived in them. One of the Holy Spirit’s gifts is self-control.