The Parable of the NFL Giraffe
The kingdom of God is like the NFL Draft which occurs every year in the month of April. At this time the owners and general managers of the land gather to choose the fastest, strongest, and most cunning to join them in paradise… THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE.
Ok, this modern Back Pew parable will make many of you cringe, in fact some of you like my wife Mary thought it was an NFL Giraffe, but for golden nuggets of truth look subscribe to Upwords by Max Lucado, but be forewarned Max can’t draw!
So onward I go with today being DRAFT DAY where the NFL and ESPN overanalyze what player goes where and we as fans enjoy a front row seat to this plethora of gridiron guru gobbledygook. Try saying that real fast three times..
I even believe the Bible is full of DRAFT analogies if you squint your eyes and think about it too hard late at night. For instance.. judgment day is Heaven’s Draft Day… but with Grace. The best example of this is the Thief on the Cross. Jesus chose him to join Him in paradise in the very last round minutes of his life. Talk about your late round draft pick of all time.
Today in the NFL draft some players are chosen of questionable background. Either that had run-ins with the law or were guilty of academic high jinks. Many are unrepentant self absorbed self promoting JOCKS that can play the game that are drafted and given big bucks because of what they do on the field with the risk of who they are as a person.
But this is not the case of course with God. He does not choose you for your time in the 40 yard dash, how if you can bench press a Buick, how many verses of the Bible you have memorized, or even if you have a perfect attendance record for church. God chooses good men and women who desire to serve Him. The Grace of God and not the goodness of any of us is the key to our draft status.
Our relative goodness is just that .. VERY relative. We are all to one degree or another .. thieves on the cross needing Jesus. To some, this statement seems indignant to your social status, or position in church. To others it is the sigh of relief you have been longing for… because all can be chosen if only we like the thief repent and ask to be chosen.
That is good news for modern man just like it was good news for a common thief 2000 years ago.
May God bless each of you on DRAFT DAY with perspective seen in God’s grace and forgiveness and His perfect love. Remember it is better to have played and been RAPTURED then just to have played.
Blessings
Jeff
one last analogy.. I think the referees are like pastors. They do their best to keep us playing by the rules.
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