Seeing God's Truth Reflected in a Basketball Story

ESPN ran a story on Jimmy Butler, a basketball player from Marquette, who is expected to go high in the NBA draft. See the link. Butler never knew his father, and his mother dumped him on a street and drove away, completely abandoning him when he was 13. He lived wherever he could find shelter, making friends and living with them for a few days at a time. In a story very similar to The Blind Side, one family took him in for a few days, and that eventually grew into a permanent family. Butler was so grateful for being taken in that he became the model child, working hard and doing everything he was asked with a great attitude. His hard work and discipline eventually paid off with a basketball scholarship, and it is now likely to result in an NBA career.

As I read Butler's story, I thought about our lives as Christians. We are all born with a sinful nature into a sin-bent world system that is controlled by Satan. He is determined to destroy us. Yet, when we were lost and hopeless, God rescued us by conquering the power of sin in our lives through the work of Jesus Christ - His life, death and resurrection. When we receive God's gracious gift of salvation through faith in what Jesus Christ has done for us, God adopts into His family and gives us an inheritance as His sons and daughters, an inheritance shared by all saints. In response to such a glorious gift of grace, we should joyfully seek to obey and honor God with our lives. Our rescue was costly. God's love for us is way over the top. We should live a life that reflects gratitude for that kind of love.