By Mallory Mattingly
Former NFL star Matt Forte and his dad, Gene, talked about how parenthood teaches believers about the kind of love God has for us.
“You want the best for your children, but then they have their own free will, and you can’t force that free will on them,” Gene said on a special Father’s Day episode of Forte’s Sports Spectrum podcast. “But you can maybe live and talk to them and have them go to church or take them to church so they can be exposed to what God is and what God has for them. So I look at it as the love that God has for us.”
“If you look at your children, and if your children do something bad against what you want them to do, you still have that love for them,” he explained. “You know, no matter what it is, even if you know your child ends up in prison or something like that, you still have that love for them and that forgiveness for them.”
“And through reading scriptures, that’s what I found, that [love], you know, God has for us, even when we go against him and do things that we should not do. There’s that forgiveness and a way to that forgiveness,” Gene continued. “And that’s what I’ve learned from some of the scriptures and so forth that I have read — that unending love that God has for His children.”
Gene played football as a defensive tackle at Tulane University from 1974 to 1978. His son played at Tulane also from 2004 to 2007.
For more inspiring sports stories, check out Sports Spectrum.
Forte just finished his second book and memoir, Stay In The Game: Making the Most of Every Season, which will arrive on Oct. 7, 2025.
“In Stay in the Game, Matt shares the highs and lows of his storied career — from the first time he put on pads at age 7 in Slidell, Louisiana, his college days at Tulane University, and his decade of dominance in the NFL, to the difficult decision to hang up his cleats at age 32, and the work he is currently doing to mentor professional athletes and stop gun violence on the streets of Chicago,” a synopsis reads.
Through his story, he encourages his readers persevere even when times get tough.
Related: Former NFL RB Matt Forte Shares Testimony: ‘Inward Transformation’
On Instagram, Forte shared, “This book has truly been a labor of love as I seek to encourage everyone navigating both the delightful seasons of life and the dark and difficult seasons of life. But no matter what season you’re experiencing, make sure you ‘Stay In The Game.'”
While parenthood comes with its challenges, God certainly uses it to teach us more about His love for us.
Read Next: Former NFL RB Explains ‘Delicate Balance’ Between Faith, Works
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