Christian basketball player Jeremy Lin said recently that he wants his legacy to be that he lived for God and was faithful to Him.

‘I Was Faithful’

“My legacy with the world would be, I would want them to know that I lived for God, I was faithful in my life,” Lin said in an interview with David Meltzer of Sports 1 Marketing last week.

“I wasn’t perfect, but I always did my best and I tried to fix and right my wrongs and just do things the right way.” Now he’s trying to create “legitimate change” in people’s lives and be an inspiration or motivation to them.

The 29-year-old point guard for the Brooklyn Nets has “faith in God’s divine plan” for his life, even though he’s had a lot of ups and downs in his career. “I remember when I made it to the NBA … I remember I actually, physically wrote down a list one day and I was like, ‘If any of these one things didn’t happen, I wouldn’t be here today.” He doesn’t take credit for anything outside of his control.

Leaning on Faith

After his season-ending knee injury last fall, Lin has leaned heavily on his faith and reading scripture. “There is a lot of delving into God’s promises that there is a perfect plan, that I need to just continue to be faithful and worry about what I can control.” He added that he feels like he’s in God’s favor. “My older brother said it best: ‘When I look at your story, there’s God’s fingerprints all over it.'”

Now he’s working on his “off-the-court” job of using his platform to help those in China. There are a lot of things he can do. “We talk a lot about how to make it right, what vision, what brand, what path we want to take, and it’s been enlightening,” he explained. “We spent a lot of it thinking about China and how we can help.”

Lin spends part of every summer at basketball camps in China and Taiwan. The camps combine basketball and faith, reported NetsDaily.

 Lin wants to continue to play basketball, but knows that his time is getting short on the court. “The average NBA career is 4 ½ years, and I’m going into my 9th next year. I’ve got to be thankful, and I’m more and more thankful because I see the end coming faster and faster.”

He realizes there are more and more off-the-court responsibilities as time goes by. “I understand basketball is a gateway to so many opportunities and to not take advantage of those would be foolish.”

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