Teamwork in baseball is beautiful especially when a double play is executed with athletic speed and grace. Of course, there is the lack of this beauty on the field when two players collide leaving the ball rolling behind them and then scrambling to recover the play. 

On the baseball field of life Christians are in the game. When you play professional baseball you are chosen to play on a specific team. We have been chosen to be part of a team called the “Children of God.” A pro baseball player starts out as a rookie and through much training moves on from rookie to a seasoned veteran. We, too, were rookies when we became new believers and we needed training to be seasoned veterans. Baseball players have the official Rule Book that dictates how they play the game. Christian players also have an official Rule book, the Bible, that directs them to play the game of life.

In every position in baseball players must be ready to play the ball that’s hit to them. They have to keep their eyes on the ball at all times, whether it is a grounder, a pop fly, a line drive, or a bad hop.  Christian players need to keep their eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith no matter what is hit their way. It could be a grounder when their house has been on the market for a year and it needs to be sold; a pop fly when a neighbor cuts down one of his trees and it lands on your new fence and breaks it in two; a line drive when the doctor tells you that your one-year-old son is autistic; or it could be a bad hop when you injured your knee playing tennis. Tough hits! Like a veteran player who is trained to handle the tough hits, Christian players need to be trained to handle them, too. We need to know our Rule Book to make the right plays in the game of life.

“All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (I Timothy 3:16).

Teamwork in baseball is beautiful especially when a double play is executed with athletic speed and grace. Of course, there is the lack of this beauty on the field when two players collide leaving the ball rolling behind them and then scrambling to recover the play.  Baseball has its glory when your teammate is at bat, swings and there is the big crack of the bat and the ball soars out of the ballpark.  The batter’s side of the stadium is on their feet jumping up and down and screaming, “Home Run!”

There are beautiful plays as Christian players in life make beautiful double plays. Watch this gracious playing when two Christian men make hospital visits, when two Christian women make meals for the shut-ins. We are all part of the team. As players in life’s game we also collide with each other and drop the ball quite ungraciously. The collision might be over the choice of the church’s music or over what goes on the bulletin board in the hallway. Even though there are collisions we’re still in the game…we’re still learning God’s rules for us from his Rule Book….to love one another.

There are many home runs in the Christian life. It’s an awesome home run when the children’s choir sings praises to God.  It’s a home run when you see a family asking a blessing in a restaurant. It’s a magnificent home run when a seasoned veteran who knew his Rule Book from cover to cover played the game of life well has now passed on to Glory.

“…whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (I Corinthians 10:31).

And this training rule from the Rule Book:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize (I Corinthians 9:24-27).

Miriam Gautier is a member of Springs Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Dunnellon, Fla.