Let
me say this up front: I like Russell Wilson or @dangeRussWilson as he is known
on “the Twitter” ;) He did go to NC State for three years, but realized that was a
huge mistake and transferred, so that’s not a strike against him any
longer =) (I bleed Carolina Blue). Since his emergence on the field and
spotlight of the NFL, I have admired his play.
He plays hard. He never gives up. He can make unbelievable plays with
both his arm and his legs and knows when the situation calls for each. I enjoyed seeing him win his first Super Bowl
two seasons ago. And I enjoyed even more
seeing him lose his second this past season when he and the Seahawks lost to my
Patriots. However, even in that loss he was impressive. He didn’t make excuses. He stepped up as a
leader and took the blame, whether he deserved it or not. That’s what leaders
do. They take the blame when things go wrong and they give credit to everyone
else, but themselves, when things go right.
Russell Wilson is a leader on the field.
Even
more importantly, Russell Wilson is a leader off of the field. I don’t know
Russell personally, but I feel comfortable calling him my brother. Why? Because
we share, I believe, the same faith. We’ve both been saved by faith in the same
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I
have loved how Russell Wilson has been unashamed of that faith commitment throughout
his spotlight in the NFL. I was super
impressed when losing the Super Bowl in the most gut-wrenching of ways, Wilson, while disappointed in the loss, was quick to remember and voice that his
identity was not found in how many Super Bowl rings he has on his fingers, but
rather is found in one King who gave His life for the forgiveness of his sins.
Nothing can change that, not even the worst of disappointments and heartaches
in life, of which losing the Super Bowl is not that big of a deal in the grand
scheme of things.
I really like Russell Wilson for all of those reasons, which
is why when I read a tweet on his Twitter feed last week, I was so
shocked. Here’s the tweet that surprised
me:
Now this obviously is a movie that has created a lot of buzz in
the culture in which we live. And
Russell Wilson made a decision to go and see this move, which as a grown man he
has the right to do so. But what shocked
me about this tweet was that this, as far as I know, is a brother in Christ who
is tweeting this. As a follower of
Christ, he made a decision to watch this movie and then not only to watch the
movie but to publicly endorse it as “great.”
Now, I’ll just be very blunt and say that I don’t see how any follower of
Christ could honestly describe Fifty
Shades of Grey as “great.” It is a
movie and novel that exalts actions that the Bible clearly labels as sinful.
Therefore to make the decision to see such a movie that goes so far over the
line between what is acceptable and unacceptable for a Christ-follower to watch
is disappointing, but then to endorse it as “great,” is even more
mind-boggling.
And I wasn’t the only one who noticed the glaring
inconsistency of what this Twitter status communicated compared to the public
persona that Wilson has created of himself up to this point, which is that of a
fully committed and faithful follower of Jesus Christ. By and large the responses on his Twitter feed
to this status were that of shock and
disappointment. And the shock and
disappointment seemed to be across the board from those who, like myself, would
call themselves a committed follower of Christ and those who clearly would
not. Everyone saw the inconsistency here
and dare I say it, the hypocrisy. “How
can someone who is a Christian see and endorse such a movie, with such clearly
explicitly sinful content?”
And it seems that Wilson quickly saw the backlash on this
Twitter feed and replied, but did so in a way that, in my opinion, did not make
the matter any better, but even worse:
Here, he agrees that the movie is both shocking and disturbing,
which I’m sure it is by all accounts. However, he espouses the view that the
action to watch the movie and endorse it did not in any way make him less
faithful.
As
Christ-followers, none of us are perfect. That’s not who we claim to be. I am
not perfect. I sin every day. And so
does every other Christian. I do and say things that can be hypocritical and
betray my faith commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. However, when we find ourselves having made a
bad decision, a sinful one that brings shame upon ourselves, but even more
importantly upon our Savior, we have a decision to make. We can
attempt to excuse our sin and justify ourselves, which in my opinion is what
Russell Wilson chose to do. Or we can confess our sin, our mistakes and rather
than justifying ourselves, run once again in faith to the one who has justified
us—Jesus Christ. Jesus has died for all
the sinful failures like Russell Wilson, Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele, and myself. Through His perfect life
lived, sacrificial death on the cross for our sins, and glorious resurrection,
all sinners who come to Him by faith get the privilege of being treated as if
they had never sinned before a holy God and as if they had lived a perfectly righteous
life. Why? Because Jesus took all of their sin and gave to them all of His
righteousness.
And so if I could say something to Russell Wilson as a
fellow brother in Christ and even as a pastor it would be the following: “You’ve
shown you are a sinner like all of us and make bad, foolish decisions. But now show that you are a Christian. Own up
to it, just like you would on the football field when you throw an
interception. And show all those who
follow you, both those who do so because they are rooting for you and those who
do so waiting to watch you fall, where, even we as Christians, run to when we
fall—back to the cross.”
Russell Wilson made a bad decision earlier in his life—to go
to NC State. (I'm just kidding about this part, I hope you all realize that) He realized it was wrong
and made a better decision. He transferred.
On a much more serious note he’s made another bad decision and in a very
public manner through social media where he gets to influence millions of
people every day. I just want him to use
that public persona and platform in this instance as a great opportunity to
communicate gospel truths to a watching world. That truth is that as
Christians, we are not perfect. However, by God’s grace, we know where to run
to when we aren’t. And as people see us
running there, maybe they will run there with us.
