I Stand on My Faith

DeMeco Ryans may not be a familiar name to most of our readers. Unless you’re a NFL football fan, and especially a fan of the Houston Texans, you probably didn’t know Ryans is head coach of the Texans.

Honestly, I really didn’t know much about Ryans until I read an article about him in the Christian Chronicle.

Ryans was an outstanding High School football player in Alabama and recruited to play for the University of Alabama. As an outside linebacker he received numerous awards, including being selected to the All American team and first team SEC in 2005. Ryans played professionally for both the Texans and the Philadelphia Eagles earning several awards including NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2006.

Recently Ryans spoke at the Fifth Ward church of Christ in Houston, where he is a member and serves as a Deacon. In his sermon about the apostle Peter, he reminisced about his childhood days attending VBS and shared the difference faith has made in his life and career.

“I stand on my faith because I know that’s what’s sustained me,” Ryans told the Chronicle. “People see the accolades, the success and all those things.

“But I know me,” he added. “I’ve never been the best in sports or anything like that. But I just know how God has guided me and led me to be where I am today. I stand on my faith because I know it’s Christ who gives me strength through everything that I do and allows me to be used for the good of his kingdom.”

DeMeco Ryans is a refreshing breath of fresh air in a profession often filled with arrogant, entitled athletes who stand only on their accomplishments, awards, and accolades on the field. However, such a misguided attitude of self-aggrandizement is not confined to the world of sports. It’s found in the world of business, politics, education, industry, and sadly sometimes in the Lord’s church.

What do you stand on? What’s your foundation? Your rock? Your moral grounding?

For too many folks today it’s either non-existent or built on the shifting, sinking sands of reputation, position, prestige, popularity, status, or financial success.

The Bible says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1).

The word “substance” carries the idea of support. It literally means, “placing under, or place a thing under.” It is the foundation. The substructure. The base.

Our faith is not founded upon fables, fiction, or feelings. It is founded upon facts. The fact that God is. The fact the Jesus is the Son of God. The fact of His death, burial and resurrection. We have solid evidence in the accuracy of the Word and the promises of God.

Faith provides a place for us to stand when the world around us is shaking. When times are chaotic, uncertain, and even scary. Faith supplies confidence in God’s promises, spiritual strength when facing trials and temptations, and a solid support that sustains and even emboldens us.

The hope we have is founded on faith. The hope of a better day. The hope of the resurrection. The hope of a heavenly inheritance. It is that hope which is the “anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast” (Heb. 6:19).

Standing on our faith allows us to have our confidence in Christ, not in self or fleshly, material accomplishments. The apostle Paul was a man with many worldly credentials, but he said that he considered them rubbish compared to faith and relationship with the Lord (Phil. 3:4-11).

Standing on our faith prevents pride and begets humility because it deepens trust and dependance on God, instead of self. In this regard, when Ryans played for the Texans, most people at Fifth Ward Church, including their preacher, Gary Smith, didn’t realize he was a football player. “I just knew him as a brother in Christ,” Smith recalled.

Where do you stand? And on what do you stand?

When we stand on our faith we can echo the words of the Psalmist, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge” (Ps. 18:2).

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman