He's Worth How Much!?!

How much is a person worth?  If that person is an NFL super star the answer is, "a whole lot of dough!"

It's free agency season. The time of year when NFL players whose contracts have expired become the subject of a bidding war between teams vying for their services. Some of these star players will receive a contract worth more money that most people will make in a lifetime!!

HERE's a list of the 2015 free agent signings.

While some of the headline numbers are impressive, the key number is the guaranteed amount. For example: Colt McCoy will be the backup quarterback for the Washington Redskins. He signed a one year contract for $1.5 million. Only $150,000 of that is guaranteed. So if the team decided to cut him during training camp, he only receives 10% of the $1.5 million that was announced.

At the top end of the table even the guaranteed amounts are overwhelming. Defensive tackle, Ndamukong Suh, is guaranteed to receive at least $59,955,000 over the next 6 years from the Miami Dolphins. Tight end Julius Thomas moves from Denver to Jacksonville for a guaranteed $24,000,000 over the next 5 years. Frank Gore signed a 3 year deal with the Colts that guarantees him $6,500,000.

Each player has a value assigned to him.

Many people look at these numbers, then huff and puff over how outrageous these amounts are. "How can someone playing a sport be worth $100,000,000?!?" "How are they making the world a better place?"

I'm not going to argue that these football players make a greater contribution to society than a preschool teacher. However, economics dictate that these players will generate the money they're paid. In fact, they'll generate more than the outrageous amounts they're paid because the owners of the teams will walk away with even more than the players!

Can you imagine if each NFL team listed it's profits each year? How much did each owner's wealth increase? Then we might have legitimate reason to complain. In the meantime, we're the ones giving our hard earned dollars to increase their wealth. That's a choice on our part.

Thankfully, in God's eyes we all have equal value. It took the early church a while to appreciate this fact, but in Acts 10:34-35 the apostle Peter announces, "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right."

How much are you worth to God? Enough to allow His Son to die for your benefit! There aren't enough zeroes in the world to write that number!