By Staff Writer, Matt Osborne

There’s little question that Kansas City tight end, Travis Kelce, is currently one of the ten best players in the NFL.

Heading into his 11th season, Kelce has already been named to eight Pro Bowls, selected as a first-team All-Pro four times, and won a pair of Super Bowls.

He’s also broken numerous NFL records for tight ends, including most receiving yards in a season (1,416), most games with 100+ yards receiving (35), and most seasons with 1,000+ receiving yards (7).

Yet surprisingly, Kelce’s 2023 base salary is ranked 52nd among NFL players. Granted, $11.25 million is nothing to sneeze at, but it’s actually a very cheap price tag for such a premier player.

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Kelce acknowledged that he likely has leverage to demand more money, but has a reason for not doing so.

“My managers and agents love to tell me how underpaid I am…I’m like, the free market looks like fun until you go somewhere, and you don’t win. I love winning. I love the situation I’m in.”  

How refreshing to know that Kelce is willing to sacrifice the amount of money he could make in order to put himself and his team in a position to win championships.

Clearly, he values winning Super Bowl trophies more than he values making a few extra millions of dollars on his paycheck.

Ultimately, the goal of every player in the NFL is supposed to be winning championships. We regularly find out, however, that not every player prioritizes winning in such a manner.

As followers of Jesus, what should be our ultimate goal in life? What sorts of things should we be focusing on as we await the eternal glory revealed to us when we see Christ?

In Matthew 28:18-20a (ESV), Jesus distinctly gave instructions to His followers as to what they were supposed to be doing until they passed to the other side of eternity: “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.’” 

Jesus has a mission for every one of us: to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth and to make disciples of all nations.

This is the task to which we’ve been called. But just like Travis Kelce, we have a choice. Will we sacrifice personal comforts and ambitions for the sake of making Christ known among the nations…or will we live a life of self-indulgence?

Although we’re not all called to move to a foreign country and serve as a missionary, we are called to participate in the furthering of the Gospel and the discipleship of the nations.

Today, let’s take some time to consider the mission before us. Let’s remember what Jesus has done for us, and make a choice to sacrifice personal goals and comforts to win at the most important task of making much of Christ throughout the world.

I’m Matt Osborne and you can UNPACK that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for what You’ve done for me in sending Your Son to die on the cross for my sins. Please show me how I can sacrifice to help further the commission that You have given me. I pray that Your name will be hallowed all over the earth. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.