Earned, Not Given
- The Narrow Path
- Aug 25, 2023
- 2 min read
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV).
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9, NIV).
I love sports for a lot of reasons. Discipline. Hard work. Teamwork. Hustle. Showing up. Respect. Responsibility. Integrity. Service.
I could go on, but my point is this: when played as they were designed, with a coach that cares about character development more than the win column, sports are a great teacher.
I distinctly remember when John Calipari’s son, Brad, decided to get the words Earned, Not Given tattooed across his chest. While it’s not something I would have chosen, I get it–none of us want others to feel like we didn’t earn what we’ve got.
As part of my role with Fellowship of Christian Athletes, I get to meet weekly with a couple of teams to share a Word of scripture, and be a voice of encouragement while planting a seed about the love of Jesus.
School just started, and the players just earned a spot on the team. It gave me the opportunity to share the Good News of the Gospel, which is the exactly opposite of “Earned, not given.”
Do you make a team by simply saying, “Hey coach, I want to be on the team!”? Heck no.
Do you get to show up on the first day of class and say to your teacher, “Hey, I want an A in the class, but I don’t want to do anything.”? Of course not.
In life, we have to compete and earn our spot on the team. We have to show up to class, and do the work well in order to get an A. School and sports exemplify the saying, “earned, not given.” And I’m grateful for that.
You know what else I’m grateful for? That the Good News of the Gospel is not that way.
We must turn to Ephesians 2:8-9 for the truth of the Gospel, which says: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Put simply, we can be saved to a life of eternity in Heaven with Jesus through a proclamation of faith, not by anything else. No amount of hard work, discipline, integrity, respect, or hustle will gain us entrance into Heaven.
Romans 10:9 says: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Jesus’ death on the cross flipped the switch and changed the saying to “Given, not earned.” And that will always be the best news of all.
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