Scot McKnight has a great line about King Saul in his book “Jesus Creed” which I’m working my way through. He says that King Saul is the Pete Rose of the Bible. I find that line particularly insightful, though it may just be that spring training is about to begin and my mind is turning to baseball.

If you think about it though, was Saul any worse than David? David was an adulterer and a murderer. When you read the accounts of David’s post-Bathsheba era, he wasn’t much of leader. There was the whole Absolom debacle, the census he took that God told him not to take. Things were just unraveling for him. And yet Saul is Pete Rose. Why? I think the key difference was David’s heart. He was a man after God’s own heart. David sinned big, but he also repented from his heart. Saul never fully repented from his sin.

So, any other great biblical character/sports figure analogies? Please avoid the temptation to compare Jesus to Tiger Woods/Wayne Gretzky/Michael Jordan. This is a blasphemy free blog.