By Abdul Masih —
When Jonathan Isaac got injured in 2020, he wasn’t able to sign with Nike, so he created his own basketball shoe, The Judah 1, which showcases scripture. He just released the update, Judah 2.
The sneakers were created “to equip and empower athletes all around the world to take the word of God with them on the court,” Isaac says. “It’s who I am. Jesus Christ has changed my life and changed my heart. I wanted to be authentic to myself, so we put a Bible verse on it.”
Eph. 6:13 and 2 Cor. 5:17 are among the verse emblazoned on the shoes.
Isaac wasn’t always the strong Christian he is today. He was raised in church but didn’t enter relationship with Christ until he entered the NBA.
As a kid, he moved from The Bronx to Naples, FL. A lanky kid among mostly whites, he felt out of place and suffered from low self-esteem.
“I was the No. 1 player in the state of Florida, but what nobody knew was that I was struggling so much behind the scenes with anxiety,” Isaac said. “This thing on the inside of me was growing. The more and more people expected of me, the higher I got as a basketball player, I was having this dichotomy of working so hard for love and trying so hard not to lose it by playing badly.”
He was living for himself — until an NBA chaplain in 2017 challenged him and other players at a Bible study with Luke 6:46, which says, “Why do you call me Lord and not do what I say?”
He felt convicted.
So he really drilled down on the faith of his childhood. When the NBA pressured all the players to take a knee during the national anthem for Black Lives Matter after George Floyd’s death, Isaac was the solitary man standing. He wanted America to stand together, not splinter apart.
“I see the problem, I just have a different solution,” he explained to his fellow teammates on the Orlando Magic. “We all fall short of God’s glory, and I don’t want to point fingers at an individual person — or an entire race for that matter — because I need grace and mercy just like (everyone does).”
“If any of us are throwing stones at any person or anything, we are throwing stones in a glass house,” he said. “If we would love each other the way that God loves us, which is in spite of our sins and shortcomings, there could be real change between white and black people, for all people.”
At the time, Cancel Culture was strong, so the backlash was fierce. His pastor encouraged him, “You cannot stand for God and God not stand for you.”
Isaac is scheduled to speak at the Prolific Growth Summit next week. The group offers a forum for values-based companies with integrity and generosity.
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