A Lamp Unto My Cleats

Eutychus is not the most familiar name in the Bible.

We meet him once – and only once – in the Scriptures.  His account is found in Acts 20:7-12.  

⁷ On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. ⁸ There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. ⁹ And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. ¹⁰ But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” ¹¹ And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. ¹² And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

What on earth does a young man falling asleep, falling out of a window to his own death, and being raised up to life again have to do with football?

It turns out, this verse is a very meaningful one to Kansas City Chief’s Quarterback, Patrick Mahomes.  In fact, this verse served as the motivation behind one of his tattoos.  He notes how, on one hand, Eutychus is dedicated enough in his faith to listen to Paul preach.  On the other hand, however, his attention and focus is so low that he falls asleep while listening.  Mahomes’ takeaway from this account is that we want to be more focused on the things of God than Eutychus was.  He told SportsSpectrum: “It’s about being half in and half out on God. That’s the interpretation I took from it, and how you can’t be half in and half out.  So that was the Bible verse that kind of stuck with me, that told me that I needed to be fully in.”

Patrick Mahomes has been striving to be more “all-in” in his walk with God.  He says “I feel like I’ve grown in my faith these last few years and I think that’s given me more sense of who I am and why I play the game.  It just kind of relieves the pressure of playing a football game because I know that I’m on that football field to glorify Him before everything. So it’s not about winning or losing, it’s about going out there and being the best that I can in His name.”

Regarding his walk with the Lord, Mahomes added to Rob Maadi on the Faith on the Field Show: “There’s been highs and low and I think I’ve learned a ton over these last few years especially about my relationship with Him.  I mean, I was baptized when I was fourteen years old and I would say I kind of distanced myself over those next few years, but I’ve been able to kind of come back and really develop this relationship that’s been able to let me go out there and play free and not worry about the moment or the success or the failure, but just play with a joy for just being able to have the opportunity and being able to have this platform.  So that’s been my walk and I’ll continue to walk and do whatever I can to just strengthen my relationship with Him.”

In spite of all the success that Mahomes has had, his walk with the Lord is the most important thing he has.  Even a life decorated with rewards, success, and victories still ends in death.  But, for all who believe in God, our lives will end like that of Eutychus. We will be raised again, not just to another temporary life, but to life everlasting with God in His kingdom which has no end!