Back when I was on the Florida State football team there was a standout defensive player who was extremely vocal about his ability. He was without question a very good football player, on the verge of being great. If you followed the Seminole football team in the early 90′s you would definitely recognize his name.
I remember when it was time for this player to enter the NFL draft. Mind you, this guy wasn’t humble before, but when the draft approached he became even more boisterous and arrogant about his ability.
One thing that stood out to me then, and stills stands out to me today is one statement he made. In one of his “I am the greatest thing slince sliced bread” rants, he boasted,”If I am not drafted in the first round, then I am not even going to play in the NFL. They just won’t deserve me if I am not a first rounder.” I was floored.
I was driving my son to day care the other morning when I was complaining to God that my life has not turned out the way I wanted it to. I was explaining to God that I am too talented, too educated and too passionate to be relegated to the life I am living.
God interupted my whining as He blitzed my mind with memories of this arrogant, cocky defensive FSU football star of so many years ago. It was as if God said to me, “So you think you weren’t drafted in the first round? So you have decided that you are not going to play?” Sometimes I really don’t like it when God talks to me.
You see I desperately wanted, and still want to be, a full time Pastor. God tells me that this is a good thing (1 Timothy 3:1), but for reasons known and unknown to me, God has not allowed me to walk into my desire. So when God hits me with a question like, “you are not going to play?” just because I wasn’t drafted in the first round, it hurts.
What the arrogant, boistrous player from Florida State failed to realize was that making it to the NFL is a huge accomplishment. There are only 32 players drafted in the first round of the NFL draft each year. That means only 320 players are first round draft choices per decade. If you are drafted in the NFL at all, you have been selected as an elite player in that game.
God is telling me that serving Him, in my local church, in my community, wherever I am, I should count myself as an elite player in His Kingdom. Yes I chose to be on Jesus’ tem, but he drafted me long before I decided to suit up and live for Him.
