Mike Vick found Jesus?

Unless you have been hiding under a “proverbial rock”, were recently thawed from your 100 year slumber in a carbon-freezing chamber, or you are new to this planet, then you’ve probably heard about Mike Vick. To be sure, Vick is not going to run for either town dog-catcher or chairman of the local chapter of the ASPCA. The events that have unfolded in recent days concerning his dog-fighting ring have been both confusing and disappointing.

Freakishly talented, Vick has shown flashes of both brilliance and frustration on the football field. His athleticism has allowed him to make “oh, my goodness, did you just see that?” moves to illude would-be tacklers, yet he could never evade the constant critiscism of failing to be the quintessential pocket quarterback. Regardless of people’s take on his maturity as an NFL qb, before his involvement with dogfighting, Vick was one of the main reasons for putting “meat in the seat” each Sunday afternoon in pro football stadiums across the nation.

While I was saddened by his recent legal troubles–which seem to be the culmination of poor choices that have surfaced in the last couple of seasons; i.e. one-finger salute to fans while leaving the playing field, etc.–I was intrguied by one phrase he uttered in his four-minute, twenty-five second public apology Monday. Vick’s intersting words were, “I’m upset with myself and through this situation I’ve found Jesus and asked him for forgiveness and turned my life over to God, and I think that’s the right thing to do as of right now.”

Now, I realize that Jesus is THE Judge of mankind and, according to Scripture, is the only One able to judge the hearts of men, which involves the sincerity of their salvation. In fact, in one of the most misquoted passages in all of the Bible, Matthew 7:1, “Judge not, lest you be judged,” Christ is referring to someone’s salvation–He is not saying that we cannot identify sin, merely that we cannot make the call on a person’s eternity.

Having typed all that, two points to ponder from Vick’s mea culpa: 1) He found Jesus is biblically incorrect–Jesus was never lost; never even misplaced or misdirected. I know, I know, that sounds pedantic and pompous (look ‘em up, they are real words), but Scripture says that no one seeks after God, because of the stain of sin in our lives (Romans 3:10). Scripture also states, in Luke 19:10, that Jesus came to “seek and to save that which was lost.” We don’t find Him, He finds us.

Maybe that’s being a bit nit-picky, but it leads me to the second interesting piece of verbage (that’s a word, too): 2) “I think [giving my life over to God] is the right thing to do as of right now.” Right thing as of right now? What?! Again, I want to avoid the kind of theological snobbery that can accompany many detailed examinations of the faith-based statements of others, but what in the world does Vick mean here? The reason I ask is that, as a pastor, I run into people all the time who run to God when it’s convenient–in other words, when life pulls the rug out from under them and they have nowhere else to turn. Unfortunately, in many of these cases, the sincerity wanes when circumstances loosen their apparent strangle-hold from around the person’s life. Perhaps it’s the cynic in me, but I pray that Vick is real in his remorse and his new-found faith. I hope it’s not a convenient confession for a confusing and crippling circumstance. I hope what seems the right thing to do “right now” will still seem right when he’s no longer behind bars and the money, fame, and positive recognition potentially begin anew.

Only time will tell. Jesus, THE Judge of mankind, said that the world will know Christians by their “fruit”–the difference made in their lives after asking Christ to be their Savior. Vick’s life will either produce Christian fruit or it won’t. That’s not to say that somehow he has to return from his prison sentence and become a priest or pastor–or even an altar boy, for that matter. But it is to say that, at some point, the Christian life that he claims to have “found” will either come out in the kind of person he will become or it will fade into the abyss of forgotten potential (as, at least, the next season of Vick’s career as an NFL quarterback). I pray he is sincere; I will pray for him as he faces an uncertain future. I will pray that he returns, not only to play in the National Football League–he has too much talent and star appeal to wish him away for good–but to publicly make good on his claim to have “found” Someone who had been looking for Vick for some time.