Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac has become less vocal about his Christian faith because he wants to grow in his relationship with Christ without trying to meet everyone else’s expectations.
“I don’t do as much as I’ve done in the past, just from a standpoint of wanting to focus on myself and my relationship with Christ and growing in that way, rather than being what everybody else needs you to be,” Isaac told RELEVANT recently.
His account on the “RELEVANT Podcast” offered a candid look at what can happen after a Christian athlete becomes a familiar face on stages and broadcasts: the invitations keep coming while the person behind them still has his own struggles.
Isaac said he had felt an obligation to speak up and present his Christianity in a way that reassured other people. He said it was hard to present that image while working through personal struggles behind the scenes.
He described the attention as a familiar response to someone with status who shares an audience’s beliefs. People want that person at speaking engagements and on podcasts, he said, but the growing platform can bring pressure to appear a certain way.
Isaac’s answer has been to do less of that public speaking and give more attention to his own spiritual growth. He described the effort required to stay faithful and cultivate a relationship with God, then the added difficulty of doing it while people watch and trust becomes harder.
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“It really is about the people that are around you, and having people that you really, really trust — especially when it comes to your leaders in a church setting,” he said.
When the conversation turned to whether Christian athletes discuss those pressures together, Isaac said he wished they did more. He pointed instead to the importance of trustworthy people nearby, particularly church leaders who can help an athlete avoid handling a large platform alone.
His quieter approach still leaves room for faith in his work away from basketball. Isaac founded UNITUS, a Christian footwear and apparel company whose stated mission includes encouraging believers to stay connected to Christ and to one another.
The company carries that message into product details. Its Judah 2 Fearless shoe pairs the design with Psalm 27:1 and describes a Scripture reference on the tongue tab, a concrete example of the faith focus that remains part of his business.
Isaac also acknowledged frustration in his basketball career, telling RELEVANT that he sometimes believed he could contribute more than his coaches did. He did not present his reactions as consistently polished; he said he had handled some moments better than others.
Going home to his wife and children helped him stay steady, along with his faith. The conversation returned to the same tension he described around public Christianity: having a visible role does not mean every part of life feels settled.
Toward the end of the interview, Isaac shared the encouragement he has found in believing God can redeem parts of his story he would rather discard.
“There’s parts of my story, there’s parts of my life, mistakes that I’ve made, and parts that I want to throw away and kind of get rid of,” he said. “And I feel like what the Lord has been encouraging me with lately is that He’s using all of it. That He is truly compassionate and loving and He’s with us every single step of the way, and He takes all of that into account and redeems it all.”
Isaac’s story is a powerful reminder that our relationship with Christ needs to come first.
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