After New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis received the Bart Starr Award at the Super Bowl Breakfast, he thanked the Lord, as many athletes and coaches have in the past. However, he wanted his audience to understand just how grateful he was for God’s grace and forgiveness. “I always hear when somebody wins an award they say ‘thank you’ to God, but I always wish they spent more time on that part,” the New Orleans Saints linebacker said. “I want to do that because I’m so grateful to Him. For me, when I look back on my life, I was dead in my transgressions—a kid who was expelled from high school, a kid who went to jail his freshman year in college. I was headed down the wrong path fast.” Davis quoted Ephesians 2:4-5, which says, “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

Psalm 51: Genuine Repentance 

A picture of confession for sin can be found in Psalm 51. It contains David’s humble prayer for forgiveness as he sought cleansing from God after a major moral breakdown. Almost a year after David’s moral collapse, God directed the prophet, Nathan, to confront David with this sin, which led to David’s repentance. David wrote Psalm 51 after being confronted by Nathan. This psalm records David’s cry to God for forgiveness precisely as Demario Davis did when he confessed his sin after realizing he, too, was dead in his sin and needed a Savior. 

A study of Psalm 51 shows the characteristics of genuine repentance. The ultimate source of every person’s problem is sin. Every Christian must be vigilant for sin within their own life and, when discovered, address it immediately by confessing and repenting. The good news of Jesus Christ is that forgiveness of sin is offered for all who will repent and come to him.

 The Kingdom Coach and Athlete know the Lord opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. They believe God is ready and willing to forgive and restore them to fellowship when they repent of their sin.

Bible Memory Verse – “And I will ask you [Job], and you make Me know! Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you know understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Job 38:3-7 (LSB)