Big Ben

The man who wrote a large part of the New Testament once rejected the gospel. Until God took hold of his life in dramatic fashion on the road to Damascus. Paul was faithful to tell his story, even when he had been arrested and stood before King Agrippa to defend himself. In Acts 26, we can read Paul's account after encountering a bright light on his journey; he said:

14 And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'
15 So I said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
16 But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.
17 I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you,
18 to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.'

Paul was someone who you could have written off - after all, He was killing Christians!  Certainly this man could not be saved, right?  This man stands as an example to each of us that no one is beyond the saving grace of God. All of us were considered to be sinners and headed for eternity apart from God - but Jesus loved each of us so much that He was willing to die for us and to bring us into a saving knowledge of Himself.  Praise His name - we can be hopeful and expectant that as we are faithful to tell our story, that God may use that as a seed to bring someone, even someone far apart from Himself, to Jesus.

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The apostle Paul, as we know, was a changed man - the one who once opposed the Church and was hostile toward Christ came into a relationship with Him. He wrote to Timothy in 1st Timothy chapter 2:

5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,
7 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle--I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying--a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

It was in a conference room in Murfreesboro, Tennessee when I had my first in-person conversation with author Del Duduit. He was sharing about one of his early devotional books, First Down Devotions: Inspiration from NFL’s Best.  In this series, which now has a sequel, he highlights the Christian walk of a number of players and principles that Christians can apply to their own lives.  There are also 2 Dugout Devotions books, too. 

The conversation included his comments regarding someone who has been getting quite a bit of attention these days as he nears his last NFL game, which could come as soon as this weekend, depending on the outcome of the Pittsburgh Steelers wild-card playoff game against the Chiefs. 

For Ben Roethlisberger to be mentioned in an interview about Christian athletes may have seemed odd - it certainly did for me.  After all, wasn't there a scandal that involved an incident with a woman in a Georgia hotel room a few years ago?   Maybe the real question is, can Jesus save someone like "Big Ben?"

A recent Movieguide piece stated:

Despite past addictions to alcohol and pornography, Roethlisberger is candid about his faith journey.

“We sin like everybody else. I am no different. We make mistakes. We get addicted to things. We sin. We’re human,” he said in 2020. “I think sometimes we get put on this pedestal where we can’t make mistakes. I’ve fallen as short as anybody. I’ve been addicted to alcohol. I’ve been addicted to pornography, which makes me then not the best husband, not the best father, not the best Christian I can be.”

“You have to dedicate yourself and understand that you can get out of it because of the grace of God and him saying, ‘Listen, you’re good enough for me the way you are. You don’t have to be perfect,'” he added.

The article quoted from Sports Spectrum, which reported on the ManUp Conference in Pittsburgh, at which Roethlisberger spoke. He said, “Three years ago I got baptized,” adding, "I was baptized as a kid; my parents took me as a baby. But I didn’t make that decision. So three years ago now I made the decision to be baptized because I felt like I needed to do that. I wanted to have a closer walk, a better relationship with Jesus, with my wife, with my kids, with my family – become a better person.”

And after a victory over the Cleveland Browns two weeks ago, Ben said, “I’m just so thankful for the fans, my family, obviously,” adding, “The good Lord has blessed me in so many ways. We still got another game and I’ll be excited and ready to go for that, but this is just an awesome place.”  

This past Sunday, the Steelers put themselves in a position to earn a playoff berth in dramatic fashion.  After Indianapolis lost its game, Pittsburgh was still in the playoff picture, and Roethlisberger led the Steelers in a defeat of Baltimore to earn the berth. 

In my own experience, I think there is a tendency to think that a person who has a bad reputation is perhaps somehow beyond saving.  You think that the way a person behaves today determines how he or she will respond tomorrow.  But, the simple fact is this: no one is beyond saving, no one is beyond the grace of God.   

A prevalent Biblical example supports this: the apostle Paul - a persecutor of Christians, who certainly was not walking with Jesus for a period of his life. But, Jesus entered his life in a dramatic way, appearing to him on the road to Damascus, and using him as a chosen vessel to write a significant portion of the New Testament. And, essentially, that's the story of each of us - you may not have a reputation as an enemy of the cross, but no matter how bad or good you think you may have been before coming to Christ, we all were separated from God by sin.  If you don't know Christ, your sins of the past will not keep you from experiencing the unlimited, unconditional love of God. 

None of us are perfect in our actions, even today. But, we have been made new creations in Christ Jesus. We have all made mistakes prior to our coming to Christ, and in our redeemed state, we will still sin against God - but fortunately, as the Bible says, we have an Advocate, a mediator, who stands for us, to whom we can come when we sin.  He forgives our sin, and by the Holy Spirit who is in us, He provides the power in order to follow Him.