The football season is in full swing again and news of possible transfers fill the airwaves. Apparently Manchester United are considering a move for Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric, 27, now that their pursuit of Cesc Fabregas has come to an end and Tottenham Hotspur have made an approach to Roma to sign £15m-rated midfielder Miralem Pjanic, 23. THe amounts of money involved in such transfers are truly staggering – a long way from the £100 paid by Aston Villa in 1893 for Willie Groves and even a long way from the first £1 million transfer in the UK (generally thought to be Trevor Francis, though apparently it was only VAT which made it more than £1 million!)
A long time ago I was involved in leading assemblies and lessons at local schools and drama was one of the ways we communicated the gospel. One sketch we wrote involved a football player (‘Meet Sid!’) who was about to be transferred from one team to another. I remember the sketch particularly because it started with Sid doing press-ups to music; I was in charge of fading the music out, but I got so engrossed in the action that I forgot to do so, meaning that Sid had to carry on with press-ups till he was almost too exhausted to complete the sketch! The point of the sketch was not really about football, but about how we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light when we are born again.
Our studies of Ephesians 2:1-7 TNIV have brought out this transfer of ownership vividly. We used to belong to the ‘ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air’, but now, when we are born again, we belong to the kingdom of God. We used to be separated from the life of God because of our sins, but now we have put on the robes of righteousness offered us by Christ (Eph 4:17-24 TNIV).
When a football player is transferred, a large fee is usually involved. Similarly, when we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, a huge price was paid. We don’t need to pay a penny, but Christ paid the transfer fee with His own body, with His own blood. When a football player is transferred to a new team, he has to wear a new strip, new colours. We too have new clothes to wear: robes of righteousness, garments of praise, spiritual armour to put on. Even more amazing, we have new life: God’s Spirit living within us, making us new creations in Christ (2 Cor 5:17 TNIV.)
You might never think of yourself as a millionaire, but the price paid for you can’t be measured in money. We have inestimable worth to God and when we are born again, we have new life and a new team to play for!
We also have a new boss who owns our lives. Our lives are no longer our own.
‘All Yours’, Kutless