Michael Vick and Second Chances

A Sports Talk radio station in Chicago (670 The Score) polled its listeners today. They asked what has been the most compelling story in the young NFL season thus far. Over 67% of responders indicated that Michael Vick’s comeback for the Philadelphia Eagles was their top choice.

For those who have been off-planet or are not football fans, Michael Vick was an incredibly talented young quarterback whose career and life took a horrible turn. His conviction for involvement in the illegal and dreadful world of dogfighting led to an eighteen-month jail sentence. Now released, expressing remorse, and speaking to young people about the evils of his past ways, Vick’s has revived his career in Philadelphia.

Not everyone is happy, including Debbie Sanville who is a season-ticket holder who has refused to attend a game since Vick signed. She believes Vick only regrets getting caught and has no remorse for his dogfighting past (Are Eagles’ Fans Ready to Embrace Vick?).

Not Redemption, but a Second Chance

Listening to callers on The Score, I was not surprised to hear them use words like “redemption” and “resurrection” (“He’s experienced a redemption.” “Vick has resurrected his career.”) Of course, they are using theologically-loaded words with no theological intent. Our society does that frequently.

I have no clue where Vick is spiritually or whether he has found spiritual redemption through the new life that comes by faith in Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection. Nor would I dare, like Sanville did, to judge the thoughts and intents of Vick’s heart. That’s a role not for my spirit but for the Holy Spirit.

However, I was disappointed by some callers who determined that Vick never should have been allowed back in the NFL. Apparently for them, there is no such thing as a second chance, even after a person has been tried, punished, and done his time according to the justice system. I wonder if the callers believe that someone who has been convicted should be sentenced to a life without any future chance at employment.

None of this is meant to minimize the horrors of the dogfighting world. And, of course, some crimes should lead to some occupations being off-limits.

Role Models: You’re Kidding, Right?

The logic, if you could call it that, of some callers went like this. Professional athletes are role models, therefore, if they commit a crime, even if they do the time, they should never be allowed back on such an influential platform.

Please. Doctors are role models. Firefighters are role models. Nurses are role models. Teachers are role models. Pastors are role models. Mill workers are role models. Most importantly, parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles are role models. But professional athletes like professional actors—they’ve proven long ago that though they are talented in their fields, they have not risen to the pinnacle of success because of their character.

Should they be role models? Could they be role models? Sure. But we ought to be teaching young people that character is what counts, not talent.

A Christian Approach: A Second Chance Because Of Redemption

As a follower of Christ, my ultimate prayer and longing for someone like Michael Vick is spiritual redemption—new life in Christ. Perhaps he has already experienced that; I do not know.

But also as a Christian, I would stand up for Michael Vick’s right to a second chance to use his talents in his career as a professional football player. Not simply on the basis of some humanitarian impulse, but on the foundation of theological principles such as forgiveness, grace, and yes, even “redemption.” While some may flippantly use this term, the spiritual ramifications of redemption ought to play out vocationally and relationally.

I forgive a brother when he sins against me on the basis of my having received forgiveness in Christ. I reconcile with a sister when we have had a dispute on the basis of having been reconciled to God through Christ. I give an employee a second chance because the father pursued the prodigal, Christ forgave the woman caught in adultery, and He gave the woman at the well a fifth chance (the man you are with now—your fifth man…).

Spiritual redemption in Christ should have practical implications relationally and vocationally. In fact, maybe we could view these comebacks, these second chances in life, as a small taste, a tiny glimpse of that ultimate spiritual redemption. Your act of grace toward me may be part of the Spirit’s work in bringing me to conviction and repentance.

Join the Conversation

Where do you stand? What is your attitude toward Michael Vick’s comeback?

Tags: Forgiveness, Michael Vick, NFL, Redemption

Note: Knowing our identity in Christ is vital to glorifying God, defeating the lies of Satan, and ministering powerfully. As you read the following summaries:

*Meditate on the associated verses and on the truth they share about you.

*Reject the lies of Satan about your identity.

*Thank God for who you are in Christ.

*Select one verse/truth per day and specifically apply it to your life and relationships.

My Identity in Christ

John 15:11—My joy is complete in Christ.

John 16:33—I have overcome the world in Christ.

John 17:16—I am not of this world.

Acts 2:44; 4:32—I am a believer.

Acts 5:20—I have new life in Christ.

Acts 8:3; 2 Corinthians 1:1—Together with all the saints, I am God’s Church.

Acts 11:26—I am a Christian, a little Christ.

Acts 13:39; Romans 3:24, 26, 28, 30; 4:25; 5:1, 9, 18; 10:10; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Titus 3:7—I am justified freely and fully in Christ.

Acts 20:32; 1 Corinthians 6:11—I am sanctified in Christ.

Romans 1:6—I am called to belong to Christ.

Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 6:1, 2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; 4:21, 22; Philemon 4; Jude 3—I am a saint.

Romans 3:24; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14—I am redeemed in Christ.

Note: Excerpted from Soul Physicians: http://tinyurl.com/d8grf6

Nominated for eight academy awards, “There Will Be Blood” plays like a modern-day version of Genesis 4. Though many Christians may resist seeing it, and many who do may wish they hadn’t, “Blood” is replete with themes of biblical proportions. It is certainly not a “Christian movie,” but Christianity thoroughly addresses the issues it raises: greed, envy, hypocrisy, rage, lying, manipulation, selfishness, self-sufficiency, and a plethora of other sins of the flesh and idols of the heart.

The movie stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview whose sin is in plain view for all to see, despise, and be haunted by. Not a single word is spoken in the first fifteen minutes of the movie. Yet the scene speaks volumes. Daniel falls down a mind shaft severely hurting his leg. Rather than crying out to God or to anyone else for help, Daniel wordlessly and arrogantly works his way out of the pit rug by rug, dragging his lifeless limb behind him. The metaphor has been written: “I am my own Savior.” Daniel in the lion’s den refuses to pray to the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

In the next scene, this sinner who thinks he can save himself learns from a mysterious stranger that there’s oil in those hills of New Boston. Traveling to the California oil fields at the turn of the 20th Century, Plainview brings his young son, H. W. (played by Dillon Freasier), who serves as a prop to provide the image of a congenial family man. Upon arrival in New Boston, CA, Daniel meets the Sunday family, headed by patriarch Abel (remember Genesis 4). Abel’s son Eli (played by Paul Dano) is a young faith-healing evangelist-pastor who turns out to be as consummately evil as Plainview, and a tad bit slimier.

Neither man displays a single redeeming quality. Both men play games with the Redeemer. Eli uses God to amass a following. Daniel uses God to manipulate God’s followers into signing land over to him, even to the point of feigning acceptance of Christ. In “There Will Be Blood,” blood is shed, but the shed blood of Christ is never received with a sincere heart.

The darkness of Daniel’s life is suffocating. As he ages (the movie spans nearly forty years in its nearly three-hour run), Daniel’s evil ripens. Where he once at least feigned love for H. W., by the end of the movie Daniel disowns him. In perhaps the only sign of grace in the entire movie, H. W., mute due to an earlier drilling accident, signs to his father “I love you” right after his prodigal father disowns him. Off H. W. goes with his wife Mary (yet another biblical allusion) to make a different life for himself in Mexico.

Christian theology sees life as a three-act play of creation, fall, and redemption. God designs humanity with dignity (creation), sin mars humanity with depravity (fall), and Christ restores and rescues humanity with salvation (redemption). There will be blood is an accurate portrayal of what our world would be like if there were no creation and no redemption–only fall. There is nothing redeemable in humanity because there is nothing human to redeem. We are, in the eyes of “Blood,” devolved animals seeking to devour one another.

You leave “Blood” feeling bloody, dirty, filthy. But “Blood” doesn’t leave you. It preoccupies your mind, disturbs your soul, and troubles your spirit. You ask yourself, “Is that all there is?”

And the answer is, “Without Christ, that is indeed all that there is.” Self. Self-sufficiency. Evil. Hatred. Rage. Hopelessness. Helplessness.

This decidedly un-Christian movie about the first decades of the 20th century has perhaps the strongest evangelistic message of any film of the first decade of the 21st century. Certainly unintended, “Blood” depicts exactly why every human being needs the blood of Christ. It is an amazing picture of the amazing sin that requires amazing grace.

Our worst sin is not our greed, evil, rage, hatred, drinking, womanizing, etc. Our worst sin, and the only unforgivable sin, is our refusal to acknowledge our sinfulness, the refusal to ask for forgiveness. We are sick undo death and in denial about our deadness, thinking that we can raise ourselves.

What can wash away our sin of self-sufficiency? Nothing but the blood.

Tags: Biblical Counseling, Christian Counseling, Church, Discipleship, Equipping, Kellemen, Ministry, Pastors, RPM Ministries, Soul Care, Spiritual Direction, Spiritual Formation