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How Former NFL Fullback Realized What It Really Means to Follow Christ
By Movieguide® Contributor
Former NFL fullback Heath Evans explained how he came to realize he wasn’t living a Christian life when he thought he was, and how reading the Bible transformed his faith.
“I hd sin in my life and of course I knew that, but I was raised by godly parents. I was raised to believe that we choose Jesus, and, you know, I was saved and baptized a 8 years old, said the sinner’s prayer, and from [age] 8 to 38, I was convinced that I was a born again believer,” Evans told Granger Smith.
“In my life at that point, I probably had one season that people would have been like, yeah, he just walked away from the Lord. One season of sin, call it lukewarm, whatever, but there was never intentional hypocrisy in my life, and my dad just raised me to be disciplined, and this is what godly is like and this is what repentance is, and so we would confess sin, and we would do these things…” Evans continued. “I just did what I was raised to do.”
READ MORE: FORMER COUNTRY STAR NEEDED TO SURRENDER TO GOD: ‘BROKE ME DOWN’
A crisis in his professional career, however, turned Evans’ life upside down, and he came to realize that he was living for himself and using people to get his way. Of course, Evans understood that that was not a Christian way to act, so he turned to the Bible and reexamined his life.
“I get to the end of 1 John and I’m like, holy moly, I’m not a Christian. I don’t love God. I don’t love others…In 1 John there’s this test it lays out: love God and love others,” Evans said. “And this obedience to your supposed king will not be a burden. It’s going to be a battle, we’re going to struggle with sin, we’re going to constantly have to run to the rock of Christ to ask for forgiveness, but it isn’t going to be a burden that weighs your soul down to follow your king.”
“And I’m like, ‘Man, I’ve just loved God for what He’s given me and it was never Jesus that I loved.’ I never truly saw my need for Jesus because I didn’t see myself as the dude in the ditch that the good Samaritan…had to rescue his life because I could do nothing myself. I needed Jesus to drag me out of that pit, mend me, put me back together, pay for me to be made well…” Evans continued. “I never saw myself as helpless. I didn’t see myself as dead. I didn’t see myself as a hater of God, enemy of God, me running from God and Jesus chasing me down like He did Adam and Eve. So my eyes started to be open to the true Gospel.”
That realization changed everything, and Evans began to restructure his life so he would be living for Jesus, rather than for his own glory. Now he runs multiple businesses which he uses to fire up the body of believers while spreading the Gospel with those who do not yet know Jesus.
He encourages his followers to pursue Christ more deeply via social media.
“Six and a half years ago, when the Lord saved me and began to make it known to me just how weak and needy I am — how desperate I am for prayer — I set alarms throughout the day to remind me to pray,” he said in a recent Instagram post. “Now, by God’s grace, six and a half years later, I find myself like Charles Spurgeon, who said: ‘I rarely pray for more than five minutes, but I rarely go more than five minutes without praying.'”
His Built Ready fitness program encourages believers to honor God through their spiritual and physical wellbeing through five pillars: holiness, hydration, rest, workout and nutrition.
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