Homepage Message: September 2007
Is your life outside God's boundaries?
As an NFL fan and part of the "Steeler Nation," I look forward to September as the beginning of another exciting season. How will our favorite athletes perform? Will they meet or exceed expectations? Who will make it to the playoffs and finally to the game of all games, the Super Bowl?
Unfortunately there is a gray cloud hanging over professional sports casting a shadow of disappointment and even disgust. Allegations of steroid use, possession of illegal firearms, dog fighting and gambling. These activities and more tarnish the image of professional sports and athletes.
Michael Vick has been in the news nearly every day on dog fighting charges and possible gambling charges, of which he pled innocent. Those arrested with him pled guilty and pointed the finger in Vick's direction. Incredibly he waited until August 20 to plead guilty. He pled guilty because he couldn't cover up his guilt any longer. When you're caught, you're caught. You fess up and stop hiding.
As I reflect on this story and other scandals it makes one consider again that perhaps athletes are paid too much. Michael Vick was given a ten-year, 130-million-dollar contract in 2004 with a 22-million-dollar signing bonus. Is anyone worth 15.5 million a year to play sixteen regular season games? That is nearly one million dollars a game. What does one do with that amount of money, publicity and fame? Some know how to handle it and others, ... well.
Professional athletes are heroes to a lot of young people. They become their role model and are idolized. In light of the scandals, perhaps it would be a good idea to look not only to an athlete's performance on the field, but more importantly, off-field performance.
However, we need to keep this sad situation in perspective. Michael Vick is no different than you and I. He has a sinful nature that is bent on satisfying selfish desires and so do we. Before you think your sin isn’t as grizzly as dog fighting and executing the looser, in God’s eyes sin is sin. Romans 3:23 says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Mark 10:18, "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone."
Consider also our first parents, Adam and Eve. They knew what they could not do, namely not eat the fruit of one tree as an expression of love, devotion and obedience to God. When Eve caved in to temptation, she was not caught off guard, it was not in the "heat of the moment," or due to a bad environment. Her and Adam's decision to sin was deliberate and calculated! They were promised to be like God and know good from evil. They could envision running their own lives and being in control as a result of eating the forbidden fruit. No sooner had they eaten the forbidden fruit than the feelings of shame, guilt and fear overwhelmed them and they tried to hide their shame and hide from God.
Not long that familiar and once welcomed voice of God called out, "Adam, where are you?" God knew where he was, but this was an opportunity for them to recognize their sin and repent. Instead, realizing they could no longer hide or cover their guilt, Adam admitted his sin, but blamed Eve and Eve in turn blamed the serpent.
This reminds me of the path Michael Vick chose. He could have confessed from the very start and faced the consequences. However, like all of us, when caught in sin we hide from God, blame someone else, or deny we're guilty until we can no longer hide.
God says in Hebrews 4:13, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." We can't even begin to hide from God and neither can Michael Vick hide any of his actions, thoughts or intentions from the God who made him and still loves him. The good news is that someone has already paid for Vick's sin just as someone had paid for Adam and Eve's. Genesis 3:21 says, "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them." The blood of an innocent animal was shed to provide clothing but also a blood offering for the payment of their sin. This blood offering pointed to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, the shedding of His blood for the sin of the world.
The only hope Vick has of removing his guilt and the sentence of spiritual death is the shed blood of Jesus Christ. You and I are no different; we must come under the blood of Jesus Christ, His payment for our sin and receive him as our Lord.
As dark as Vick's future looks right now there is reason for hope. That hope is turning away from sin and surrendering his life and future into the nail pierced hands of the God who loves him, Jesus Christ.
That is also our only hope. Will you admit your guilt and turn to Jesus for forgiveness and live?