Special Easter Edition: We Are ALL Free Agents

April 4, 2021

The world of sports provides us with so many great analogies for life, and here is yet another example.

We are currently in the midst of the big free agent signing period in the NFL. And just like in other major professional sports (such as the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball), when a player’s initial rookie contract expires, generally the player becomes a “free agent” and can sign their next contract with whichever team they wish to play for next.

When a player initially gets drafted, he has no control over which team will draft him.  It could be a very well-run, successful, championship-level team…or it could be a very poorly run, losing team.  It is out of the player’s control.  And the player’s initial rookie contract is most times very limited, restrictive and (especially if a player turns out to be a superstar player) under market value for his level of productivity. But then at the end of that rookie contract, when that player becomes a free agent, if that player is a superstar player, he will have many teams trying very hard to sign him to play for their team.  There will be different proposed contract deals offered by each team, and each team will have different benefits and reasons for why it makes sense for the player to sign with them.

Superstar players like Saquon Barkley will soon become free agents and can decide which team they want to join.

To apply this sports analogy to life, we are all “drafted” (i.e., born) into a certain family and culture.  Some of us are born into a great environment…great country, freedom, two-parent family, loving parents, nice home, comfortable lifestyle. Kind of like an athlete being drafted onto a successful, very well-run, existing playoff or championship-level team. Most others are born into less (in many cases, much less) desirable situations…hostile environment, totalitarian country, limited or no rights, broken or abusive home, single parent, poor lifestyle.  Kind of like an athlete being drafted onto a very poorly run team with a losing record. 

But one thing we all have in common, no matter what situation we are born into, is our ability to think and to decide what we believe.  Even if you are born into a family or culture in which you are forced or told what to believe, you still have control over your innermost thoughts.  And at some point, we all get to an age or a level of maturity in our thought process where we are able to make our own decisions, and in that respect we all become like “free agents.”  

And when it comes to deciding what we believe regarding the purpose of this life and what comes after this life…whether there is an afterlife or if this life is all there is…if we continue with this sports analogy and apply it to religion, we can “sign with” or join any “team” (i.e., religion) we want.  In that vein, we all become like the high-priced athletes, with many religious “teams” vying to convince us to join them.

Now before continuing, it is important to stop and pause here to make a very important point:  sports analogies are fun, and they will continue to be utilized throughout the rest of this article as a literary technique…but there is a very significant difference between making a sports analogy and making real serious decisions having eternal consequences. With sports, it’s ultimately about athletes playing a game.  However, when it comes to your life and where you will spend eternity, that is no game…and the decision you make regarding what you believe about the purpose of this life, the existence of an afterlife, and where and how you will spend eternity is absolutely critical and is the most important decision that you will ever make!

Having said that, and continuing now with the sports analogies, there are many religious “teams” to choose from, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, Taoism and many, many others…as well as secular, worldly belief system “teams” such as atheism, hedonism, materialism (e.g., money, possessions, career titles, status), Marxism, communism, and many other “-isms”.  

Also, just like in football, every religious team (and even some secular teams) has a “playbook”…such as the Bible (Christianity), the Tanakh (Judaism), the Qur’an (Islam), the Tripitaka (Buddhism), the Vedas (Hinduism), the Book of Mormon (Mormonism), Tao Te Ching (Taoism), and secular playbooks like The Communist Manifesto. And just like a football player, once you choose to join a “team”, then you need to learn and understand that team’s “playbook” in order to become an effective member of that team.

At some point, we all must either choose a “team” to join or to stay as a free agent (and even that itself is a choice).  And while many “teams” offer different aspects that make them appear attractive, like many football teams offering different deals to try to sign a superstar player, in my view there is only one “team” that is true and is guaranteed to ultimately win the championship.

For me, the choice is easy, immediate and obvious…I choose Christianity and Team Jesus!!  

Let me give you a number of reasons why:

First things first, in my opinion there has to be a higher authority, and I believe that higher authority is the God of the Bible.  If God does not exist, and there is no heaven or afterlife, well then this life, and the state of humanity and the world right now, becomes very terrifying.  And if that is the belief system, then seems like it would make a person fearful to do anything…from leaving their home and going out into the world (where any number of potential hazards exist), or frankly to even fall asleep at night, for fear of not waking up again. 

Thankfully, however, there is plenty of evidence that God does in fact exist.  For one thing, God has put eternity in every human heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11), meaning that deep down we all know that this life is not the end, but is a stepping stone into another life that will be everlasting.  In addition, look at all the evidence in nature…from all of those beautiful things in nature that humans did not and cannot create, to the climate and weather that humans cannot control, to the fact that the Earth is precisely the exact distance from the Sun in order to sustain life (any closer we’d burn up, any further away we’d freeze to death), to the incredibly intricate complexity of the eyeball, and countless other examples.  God’s eternal power and divine nature can be clearly seen from what has been created, so that people have no excuse to not believe in God (Romans 1:20).  And for all of you “Big Bang” evolutionists out there, here’s a question for you…where did the “Bang” come from?  If you try to say that it came from certain gases or particles or atoms combining and creating an explosion, then where did they come from?  The bottom line is that it takes a heck of a lot more faith to believe that there is no God than to believe that He exists.

So now that we’ve established that God exists, and that there is more to this life than just our time here on Earth, that truth knocks out the atheists, Marxism/communism (which rejects the existence of God and has totalitarian government as the ultimate authority) and all of the other secular “-isms” out there.  Now let’s tackle the other religions and why Christianity is the only real choice.

The first difference between Christianity and all of the other religions is that Christianity is not really a religion at all…in fact, true Christianity is actually about a direct personal relationship with God. 

All religions to one degree or another involve a person’s efforts and how that person can work their way to their god…or to some higher level of enlightenment.  Religions, at their very essence, are about the person being good enough and doing enough of the right things in an attempt to reach up to a god or to the next level of enlightenment.  And even with Christianity, an all-to-common misconception is that if a person is a “good person”, that person will go to heaven when they die.  But here are some key questions…how good is good enough to be considered a “good person”?  And how does the person really know if they have done enough?  Is it that the number of good deeds over one’s life outweighs the number of bad deeds?  What is the standard?  And more importantly, who is the judge?  And finally, is the person really willing to die (not knowing when that will be) and roll the dice that they will be viewed as a good enough person to be allowed into heaven?…I know I wouldn’t be. 

There are a couple of problems with this way of thinking.  First of all, nobody is perfect and has never done anything wrong (with the exception of Jesus).  All of us have sinned.  So with the “good person” standard, if God allows that to be the standard for entering heaven, that means that God will allow people who have sinned, but whose “good deeds” somehow outweigh their “bad deeds”, to enter into heaven.  Which means an element of sin from these people enters into heaven.  But God and sin cannot coexist.  So that cannot be the standard.  

In addition, with Christianity, it is actually not about being “good enough.”  In fact, none of us can ever be “good enough” to earn our way to heaven.  According to God’s Word, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, notice the word “all”), and that “There is no one righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10, notice the words “no one”). 

As a result, since God and sin cannot coexist, and since all of us have sinned, there is a chasm that exists between us and God.  And no matter how much we work and strive in our own efforts to get to heaven, we can never do enough to earn God’s favor and reach our way up to heaven. 

Which is why God decided, in His mercy and grace, to reach down to us instead…and to offer us a bridge that provides a way to connect us directly with Him.  And that bridge is Jesus.  That’s another huge difference between Christianity and all the religions.  In all the religions, it’s essentially people trying to reach up to their god.  In Christianity, however, it’s God reaching down to people by way of Jesus.

God is just and righteous, and His punishment for sin is death…and since all of us have sinned, we all deserve eternal death. So God in His mercy (i.e., sparing us from what we deserve) and grace (i.e., giving us what we don’t deserve) decided to offer us His Son Jesus as a gift to take the punishment for us.  Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 Why would God do this for us?  Because even though God is just and righteous, He also loves us and wants to have a personal relationship with us.  Just imagine that for a second…God, the Creator of the universe and everything in it, wants to have a direct relationship with us!  So God demonstrated His love for us by the fact that, in our sinful condition, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).  God loves us so much that He does not want anyone to die in their sinful condition and be eternally separated from Him, but instead wants to save us from our sins and grant to us the opportunity to spend eternity in heaven with Him.  John 3:16-17 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”  As a result, Jesus voluntarily allowed Himself to be brutally beaten and crucified, the worst pain, torture and form of death ever experienced, and God the Father placed the entire world’s sin debt (past, present and future) on His Son’s shoulders, and Jesus died an unbelievably excruciating death. For us…for you!  But the wonderful miracle of the gospel is that after three days in the tomb, Jesus conquered the grave and rose from the dead!!  Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God the Father.  And that resurrection from the dead provides the eternal hope for all of us who place our faith and trust in Jesus for our salvation! So instead of living with the fear of death, the fear of eternal punishment, and under the weight of sin, we now have the opportunity to be heirs of eternal life and to live in the hope and anticipation of heaven.  In other words, God chose to rescue us, and we can now live with our hearts filled with hope instead of fear and dread.

This precious substitutionary gift from Jesus is the most amazing gift that any of us could ever receive! And it’s a true gift…given to us not because of anything we have done, but instead because of what He has done for us!  As the song says, “Amazing Grace!”.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”  

So how do you receive this amazing free gift? Simply believe by faith and accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord.  And how do you do that?  Romans 10:9-10 says that “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”  To “believe” means that you place your trust and full confidence in Jesus for your salvation.  In other words, (i) you acknowledge your sinful nature, ask God to forgive you of your sins, and you repent and turn away from your sins (ii) you acknowledge that you cannot do anything to be good enough or to earn your way to heaven, and as a result (iii) you acknowledge your need for a Savior, and that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, and that (iv) you accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord, and you place your trust and full confidence in Him, and in Him alone, for your salvation.

What about those who believe that there are other ways to heaven?  Well, Jesus did not allow for that possibility.  Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).  Notice that Jesus said that He is “the” way, truth and life…not “a” way, truth and life.  And also notice that Jesus said that “No one” can come to the Father in heaven except through Jesus.  

Also, Jesus is the only one of the religious leaders who claimed to be God…He said, “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30) and also said “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9).  Mohammed never claimed to be God, Buddha never claimed to be God, Confucius never claimed to be God, etc.  Only Jesus did.  So either Jesus is telling the truth, or He is a liar.  In my opinion, Jesus is absolutely telling the truth.  For centuries, there have been people actively trying to disprove the Bible and searching to find untruths in it.  And many highly intelligent people who were atheists have made it their mission at one point in their lives to find evidence to disprove the Bible…and during the course of their mission have become born-again Christians instead (for example, I encourage you to look at the lives of Josh McDowell and Lee Strobel). There is plenty of archeological and historical evidence supporting the truth of the Bible, and the Bible has stood the test of time as the inerrant Word of God.

Getting back to the sports analogies, for those of us who accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, and decide to join Team Jesus, we have been given a fully guaranteed contract. Once we have sincerely joined His team, Jesus tells us that we can take comfort in the fact that we will always be part of His team.  Jesus said in John 10:28-29 “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”  There’s absolutely nothing better than that fully guaranteed contract!!

And on top of that, as a “signing bonus”, upon making the decision to accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we also get the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity (i.e., God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit…one God in three Persons).  The Holy Spirit is like God’s security deposit placed on His people, to mark and protect those who belong to Him. Ephesians 1:13-14 says “And you were also included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of His glory.”  Not only is the Holy Spirit a deposit on our future inheritance, but He is our Guide, Counselor and Comforter as we go through this life on Earth.  Back to the sports analogy, the Holy Spirit can be our playcaller…provided that we learn to listen to Him and trust Him, and we do not decide to call our own audibles. 

Another one of the many great things about Christianity is that the invitation to join Team Jesus is open to everyone. The blood of Christ crosses all man-made boundaries and categories. Regardless of the racial, national, ethnic, physical, economic, or societal labels and boundaries created by man (and we have all seen that there are plenty of those these days), the blood of Jesus covers the sins of all who come to Him by faith.  All man-made barriers, labels and restrictions fall as Christians from all walks of life all come together as one under Jesus. Galatians 3:28 says “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  True Christianity is real unity…not the false unity that is being peddled by the politicians these days.

Once we become a member of Team Jesus, then like top superstar athletes frequently do when they join a new team, we need to go out and try to recruit other “free agents” to join our team (this is known as the “Great Commission” in Matthew 28:19-20). 

In the end, when our life on Earth here is done (and remember, none of us know when that will be), we want to be in a position where we are ready to receive the championship trophy…which is eternal life with Jesus in heaven!  May we be in a position to say as the Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”  

So what “team” will you choose to join?  How about joining me on Team Jesus?  It’s guaranteed to win the championship…because the “Head Coach” (i.e., Jesus) has already won it for us!!  HE IS RISEN!!!  All we have to do is decide to join the team and the celebration…and invite more players to come join us!!!  

Happy Easter/Resurrection Day to all of you!!