The NFL Draft and You

May 2, 2022

This past weekend was the National Football League draft. It is an annual event which serves as the must have been out of high school for at least three years and must have used up college eligibility before the start of the next college football season.

Each NFL team is given a position in reverse order relative to its record the previous year, which means that the last place team is positioned first, and the Super Bowl champion is last. From this position, the team can either select a player or trade its position to another team for other draft positions, a player or players, or any combination thereof. The round is complete when each team has either selected a player or traded its position in the draft. The first draft was held in 1936 and has been held every year since. The players are called draft picks, and people bet on who will get picked first and who will get the best players. The teams pick players who will contribute to their winnings.

As you can imagine, this is an emotional weekend. There are tears of joy from being picked and tears of sadness from not being picked. There is exuberance and despair in teams, but especially in hopeful players.

We all have probably experienced both of these emotions many times in life. Maybe on the playground at school you experienced the rejection of not being chosen to play with friends. Or maybe you were one or the envied ones who always got chosen first. I am sure that wherever you were on that scale, life has handed you numerous opportunities to experience both the high of being chosen and the disappointment of rejection.

Here’s the good news that can forever change your life and the trajectory of it: You have been chosen by God. Yes, you. Jesus has selected and commissioned you for His own team.

You did not choose me, I chose you; and I have commissioned you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last; so that whatever you ask from the Father in my name he may give you. John 15:16

Jesus has chosen you—never doubt your value or worth. Not only are you worth so much that Jesus died to restore your relationship with God, but He empowered you through His resurrection and the Holy Spirit to live an amazing life. You have a significant place and reason in His plan.

God has gifted you and equipped you to make a difference in this world for people and for Him. That’s what it means to produce fruit. Who showed you the truth of Jesus? Who has invested in your life to this point to help God create the person you have now become? You are fruit God has empowered them to help bear.

You get to be part of that too. That is where your greatest significance is found. When you invest the truth of Jesus by sharing your life with people. You invest through time spent and experiences shared. Honestly opening your life up to them and making time to have a close- up connection. Living your life attractively, compelling them to ask questions and allow you to share what Jesus has done for you and how He can work in their lives. Winning them to Christ and helping them grow.

This is what discipling people in a relationship with Christ means. Nothing is more important than what one Jesus follower can do for another. God has chosen you; He has picked you to do it. He believes in you.