Yesterday, I wrote a bit about baseball versus the Church and how many folks are choosing athletics over congregational worship these days. It is my firm belief that worship should come first regardless of aspirations toward playing professional baseball or football or volleyball or what have you. It is my firm belief that even though the Church is a flawed institution and oftentimes leaves folks disenchanted, upset, hopeless, etc., the One the Church worships is none of those things. Unfortunately, we have oftentimes allow the flawed institution to get in our way of worshiping the One the institution is supposed to point toward, and it is He whom we come to meet and hear and revere--not the pastor, people sitting in the pews, the building and property, or the politics of how a congregation is run. It's important to focus on God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and what they expect. When we do so, I believe we see they trump baseball or what have you in a major way.
1. As I said yesterday, athletics demands something out of people. Money, time, dedication, etc. Once you buy into athletics, you find yourself committed, and one is loathe to turn away after the investment.
However, God's demands actually far outweigh athletics's demands. Don't believe me? Well, just because most congregations don't place any demands upon members doesn't mean Christ doesn't place demands upon His followers. Here's just a few of them:
#1. Perfection. (Matthew 5:48)
#2. Mercy. (Luke 6:36)
#3. Loving one's enemies. (Matthew 6:44)
#4. Turning the other cheek when struck. (Matthew 6:39)
Oh, let's just stop all this stuff and get down to the brass taxes of what Jesus demands. He wants your entire life--not just morality--not just justice--not just an hour of worship on Sunday morning and a few moments of prayer time during the week. He wants you. All of you. Remember the story of the rich man who came to see Jesus:
17 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ 18Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.” ’ 20He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ 21Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money* to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ 22When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. (Mark 10: 17-22)
God demands your life--far more than athletics could ever think of demanding. Now, God doesn't punish us directly for not giving Him our entire lives. If He did, none of us would be walking around; however, there are definitely consequences for not putting God first. Things tend to fall apart and quickly. Yet, when folks' lives are spinning out of control they start wondering, "Why?" Well, how well are you putting God first?
2. Athletics offers the hope of the next game; the next season; and the chance for the underdog to win.
But there are still losers. And when your body doesn't work anymore, athletics drops you off at the corner. Sure, you can coach or follow your favorite team, but when all is said and done, athletics offers a false hope. Games end. Teams disappoint. Coaches become involved in scandal. Players abuse their bodies and sometimes abuse the relationships they enter into. Brokenness rears its ugly head time and again. Sometimes the pursuit of money causes dedicated fans to become sick of the sport. (Raise your hand if college football's pursuit of money has turned your stomach more than once.)
With God, hope reigns eternal. That's the main promise of the resurrection. Everything looked really, really bad on Good Friday, but Easter revealed the promised ending. No matter what evil may befall us. No matter how many shootings go on in theaters or schools or in parking lots. No matter the disparity between rich and poor. No matter how many die of starvation. The final word and say will belong to God. The final word and say will be good. The final promise is a renewed and restored creation to the way it was meant to be. There is not a hope in next season or the next game which may or may not turn out well. There is a sure and certain hope.
3. The final one is a bit more difficult and even troublesome. In athletics, one can measure progress. One can see one's self getting stronger, getting faster, throwing harder and with more accuracy. Some of this is due to the body's naturally getting stronger as it grows. Sometimes people don't have to work very hard to see the results, and since matter tends to want to stay at it's lowest energy state, many folks are very happy seeing progress without much investment.
Yet, there are two things of note here. First, the best athletes go through a lot of pain to get better. In order to get stronger, they have to lift weights and tear their muscles so that they can rebuild. They have to push themselves to exhaustion so that their bodies can grow in stamina. Some are not willing to push themselves in this manner, but the best of the best train and have pain to attain greatness. Secondly, even pushing themselves to the limit, eventually, everyone hits a ceiling. Age creeps in and strength wanes. Drugs can push this off until further in life, but there are limits to how far one can progress.
There is good news and bad news here for those of faith. The bad news will be offered first: in order to grow in faith, one must experience pain as well. Spare me the televangelists and others who believe Christianity is a painless way of life. Spare me those who say Christianity leads one to be pain free, evil free, and full of unceasing happiness. It doesn't happen that way. For to grow in faith, one must undergo pain. It's not pleasant. The saints in their works express this. Why is it so painful?
In Christianity, we are at war with our very nature--our very identities as homo sapiens. We are born with the capability to do great good and also great evil. For most of us, we keep the extremes in check. Rarely does one do great good things. Mostly we do small good things. Conversely, most of us do not do great evil. We do small evil things. As we seek to grow in faith, we go through pain as God cleanses the bad from us. He changes our identity. He changes our very nature, and that is painful. Some can't handle the pain. Again, most athletes don't push themselves to really and truly become great--neither do most Christians. It's a sad fact, but a true one. But if you are a "glutton for punishment", or in the case of Christianity, a glutton for transformation....
There is no limit to growth in faith. As we age, our cellular processes break down. We age. Our muscles no longer respond as quickly. Our strength fades. But those of faith who pursue growth find there is no ceiling. How could there when the ideal is to become like Jesus? In fact, some of the most mature Christians I have known are those who are facing end of life issues. They are people wracked with the pain of cancer or some other disease. They are people who have lost loved ones and buried children. They are people who have walked through hell on earth and have a peace that passes all understanding. They would never look down on you. They would never be conceited in their spiritual growth. They are immensely humble because of what they have endured and gone through, and they radiate God's light and love. They themselves would tell you they are still growing, still learning, and still striving to love like Jesus, and they know they will accomplish this goal only after crossing the threshold of death.
While athletics offers the opportunity to progress, there are limits. In Christ, there are none to one's spiritual growth.
In all ways, God triumphs over baseball. Not likely it will change the dynamics of those who choose to pursue athletics in this day and age. But I can hope, can't I?
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