Footballer Says Get Understanding

(3 Minute Read plus video. 28Dec2022)

Deion Sanders was one of the best athletes to ever play professional sports. He was nicknamed “Prime Time” due to his many football highlight reels.

Recently he said something quite unusual for a football coach.

This YouTube video clip (1:27) is one of his famous punt returns for a touchdown for the Atlanta Falcons against the Cincinnati Bengals in 1990. Notice how he starts highstepping and showboating as he crosses midfield.

 
Sanders played for 14 seasons (1989-2005) in the National Football League and for nine seasons (1989-2001) in Major League Baseball. He won two Super Bowl titles and played in one World Series making him the only person to play in both. During the 1989 season, he hit a major league home run for the Yankees and scored a touchdown for the Falcons, both in the same week. He is the only player ever to do both in the same week.

He is one of only two players to score an NFL touchdown in six different ways: punt return, kickoff return, interception return, receiving, rushing, and fumble recovery.

Sanders played college football under head coach Bobby Bowden at Florida State. Bowden said Sanders was his “measuring stick for athletic ability.” As a senior he won the award for the nation’s top defensive back.

Sanders was the head football coach at Jackson State University for three seasons from 2020 to 2022, compiling a 27−6 record. He led JSU to the school’s first undefeated regular season and to two consecutive bowl appearances. Near the end of the 2022 season, Sanders was named the head football coach for the Colorado Buffaloes.

In a press conference following Sanders’ appointment as the head football coach for the University of Colorado, he said this:
“After we leave you’ll see some positivity about what we did for Jackson State. I just pray to God that in all thy getting, get some understanding on change, and where it really starts. And it does not start in the football department.”

Deion Sanders
Hall of Fame cornerback
Washington Redskins, 2000

The emphasized portion of Sanders’ quote tweaks the ear as not-too-common English. That’s because it comes from the King James Version of the Biblical book of Proverbs:
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting, get understanding. (Proverbs 4:7 KJV)

The verse Sanders quoted urges us to get wisdom and understanding.

Most people want wisdom and understanding. But . . .
How do I get wisdom?
How do I get understanding?

These verses from Proverbs give the answers.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)
Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding. (Job 28:28)
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)

The fear of the Lord involves a healthy respect for the Lord, recognizing that He is my Creator, I am His creature. He made me and therefore knows the rules by which I should live. The fear of the Lord involves obedience to His commands.

The knowledge of the Holy One comes through immersing myself in Scripture, the Word of the Holy One. It comes through life experience as I trust the Word and act on it.

According to this next pericope from Psalms, learning the fear of the Lord (which yields wisdom) involves speaking truth and justice, living righteously, and pursuing peace.
Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. (Psalm 34:11-14)

For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.
(Proverbs 2:6-7)

Questions to Ponder

1. What ”getting” absorbs your focus and energy today?
2. If you turned your heart right now to the fear of the Lord, what would that look like practically?

Share your thoughts on these questions in the comments below. It could encourage or help another reader.

For Christ and His Kingdom.
Alere Flammam Veritatis.
Soli Deo Gloria.

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©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith”
“destroying speculations against the knowledge of God”
“for the defense of the gospel”
(Jude 1:3; 2 Cor 10:5; Phil 1:16)
Wednesday December 28, 2022 A.D.

Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised,
And His greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of Your majesty
And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. (Psalm 145:3-5)

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