Stay In the Game!

"Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love" Ephesians 1:4

Fall is here and I'm liking the change in season. Don't get me wrong, I love playing outdoors in the warm sunshine, swimming, and the wonderful fun that comes with summertime, but I love the wonderful change of seasons. It's such a blessing God gives us so that we can have appreciation for the cool crisp air as well as the warm sunshine.

This fall, my son has chosen to play fall baseball. It's been a couple years, so he's had to put in some practice time to get up to his potential. He's one of the youngest on the team this year as he had to move up a bracket. Usually, he's the biggest in a group of boys when they're all his same age. However, to my surprise, I showed up at the field for his first game and contemplated going around to parents and asking to see birth certificates. Seriously! Some of these twelve year olds looked like they could probably bench press me! I'm only joking, but I was surprised nonetheless.

In getting to my point, I was at a recent game where our team was really holding our own against our opponent. The boys started off a little sluggish at the beginning but soon began to pick up momentum. I noticed one boy in particular really giving it all he had. I could sense that he'd been a star player in years past and his love for the game was obvious. Well everything was going along great for this kid until he missed a line drive hit straight to him. Fortunately, his backup made the play so the runner only ended up hitting a double. The runner tried rounding second to make a run for third base but the infield held him. After all the excitement of the play had subsided, I looked up at the boy who'd missed the ball. Defeat was all over his face. It was painfully obvious that he was beating himself up over the missed ball despite the fact that he'd played a flawless game to that point, and really, a flawless game all season. Unfortunately, he just couldn't shake it off for the remainder of the game. The coach decided to pull him and give him a breather on the bench in the last inning.

I couldn't shake that child from my head for the remainder of the game. I felt so sorry for him that he was allowing one mistake to make him feel defeated to the point that he couldn't even finish the game. What a shame. And yet, I thought about how often you and I react exactly the same way. Whether it's a diet and you eat something you shouldn't so you just give up or a promotion you haven't received so you do what you can to get by. And often, it's a sin you've committed and you feel like a moral failure and God won't love you anymore or maybe you've given up on loving yourself. It may be that someone has said something or done something to you that makes you feel worthless. Nothing could be further from the truth. God loves you UNCONDITIONALLY! Isn't that incredible? You don't have to feel defeated. You don't have to sit on the bench. So rest in the assurance that God loves you and it's time to get back in the game and play your heart out!

Lord, we don't deserve Your love. Thank You for Your love and thank You for loving us with no strings attached. What a comfort it is to know that when You sought us out and we responded with our hearts, we were in the game for good! Lord, I pray that we would live each moment with full assurance of your love. And Lord, I once heard that the evil one spends his time convincing the lost that they're saved and the saved that they're lost. Lord, may we never doubt Your love for us. Remove the evil one far from us. May we not live a life of defeat. Please guide us to to live lives which bring glory to You. In the name of Your Son, Amen.