World Series of baseball

 

Well, I have several things rattling around in my head right now and I'm going to try and tie them all together and, hopefully, present a lesson for us to consider. They may seem a little strange at first, but just remember who's writing this.

I'm going to start by noting something that I'm sure you're all aware of and that's the fact that the World Series of baseball is now in full-swing. No, I'm not going to advocate one team over the other here, it's just that I once read something about the game of baseball that sort of serves to usher us into our lesson.

The next thing I'm going to mention are some words that we find spoken throughout the New Testament, the Gospel that are probably the most recognized words that people associate with Christianity. By now you're probably agog with wonder and excitement as to how I'm going to tie all of this together. Either that or you're wondering how bad I hurt my head when I fell off of the proverbial turnip truck.

First off, let me relate my little item of information about baseball that watching the first two games of the World Series reminded me of. I'm going to talk about an event in baseball that occurred in the year 1998, a year which saw several memorable things happen in that world. There was the home run duel between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. (McGwire won with 70) The New York Yankees won an incredible 114 games that year. But those are not the events that helped to inspire this lesson.

The event in 1998 that I'm using here today was a ballplayer by the name of Cal Ripkin Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles who ended his streak of consecutive games played at the amazing count of 2,632 games. This streak encompassed a total of 16 years of showing up and being on the field for his team for every game. As I said, 2,632 of them. He did not "sit out" a one of them.

Do you think that, during those years and all of those games, he might of not "felt good" at times? That he might of had some injuries that bothered him? Maybe he might have just felt like taking the day off because he was tired or stressed out. But, he didn't. And you know what? It wasn't because he started out with the idea of setting this record. Of even of breaking the consecutive game record set before him by Lou Gehrig.

In a statement he made following the end of the streak he said that his motivation was his attitude about how "I approached my job." Oh yeah, he was under contract with the Orioles to play baseball, but it wasn't the money, the salary, that motivated him to be on the field and in his position every time when game time came. It was his desire to be where he was supposed to be, when he was supposed to be there because of his love for the game.

Now let's turn to our "words" seen in the Gospel. Sort of with the same line of thinking seen as when the lawyer asked Jesus what the greatest commandment in the law was (Mt. 22:36), if I asked you what you thought the greatest thing in all of Christianity is, what would you say? Or, maybe it could be asked this way: What's the most important thing, or part, of Christianity?

Have you thought about it for a moment? What did you come up with for an answer? Was it "FAITH?" I would hazard a guess that most people asked those questions would offer that as their answer and if that was your answer, then you both would be wrong.

Of course FAITH is a very important part of Christianity, but there is a verse that we're all familiar with that gives us the right answer. Let's read this verse together here and we'll see what Paul says the answer to the question is: "So now faith, hope and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is LOVE." (1Cor. 13:13 ESV)

Paul also tells us in the very same chapter that "If I speak in tongues..." or "if I have the gift of prophecy" and can "understand all mysteries" and "if I have all knowledge" and "if I have all faith to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." (Vs 1&2)

We don't have enough time or space here to cover all the aspects of "love" and how it applies to Christians, but I would urge you to read probably the best chapter in the New Testament on "love" and its relationship to Christianity - 1 John 4. In my way of condensing the thoughts there, here is what we find: that God is "love." And because we (Christians) are His children, we know "love." Because that's the effect His "love" has on our lives. Therefore, we know how to "love" others.

Now let's tie these thoughts together and bring this to a close. I'm going to do this by citing one more passage to you with the idea that we can look at the example of Cal Ripkin Jr. and his dedication to being faithful to be in his position every time the time came for him to do his part. And that he did it because of his love for the game.

Should we have any less motivation to be where we are supposed to be when the appropriate time comes? Shouldn't we have the same motivation as Cal? Because we "love" the gathering together with our brothers and sisters to worship God. That we "love" God and because of that we know how to "love" each other? Parabolically speaking, I know that we'll never equal the consecutive "games" that Cal played in our gatherings for worship, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't have his mind-set in desiring to be there each and every time. And that mind-set includes the same motivation - the "love" of God and being pleasing to Him.

And now our closing passage: "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (Heb. 10:23-25 ESV)

Ron Covey