Getting Paid to Play a Game

Suggested Reading: Ecclesiastes 5:10-20

One of my favorite baseball movies is The Rookie. The movie follows the true life story of a man who had blown out his pitching arm in college but got a second chance to play baseball years later when he was teaching high school science and coaching the school's baseball team. In the years since college, his arm had healed and, trying out only to satisfy a team of high school boys, he discovered that he was throwing the ball 97 miles per hour. He was signed to a minor league contract in the hopes that he would play for the major leagues, but as he got into the day-to-day grind of life on the road, he began to get discouraged. Away from his family and advancing through the system more slowly than he would like, he considered quitting and going back to teach high school science. As he was out walking one night, ready to quit, he came across a little league baseball game where he watched little kids playing baseball and having the time of their lives. The next morning, he walked into the clubhouse and, with a big grin on his face, asked his teammate, "Do you know what we get to do today? We get to play baseball!" He had remembered that he was getting paid to play a game for a living and had chosen to enjoy it again.

Now, clearly, most of us don't get to play games for a living, but we all understand what it is like to be discouraged with our jobs. We all understand what it is like to be discouraged and want out. Many of us don't make as large a salary as we would like and often find ourselves with little left once the bills have been paid. Those truths make this passage from Ecclesiastes even more profound: God has also given riches and wealth to every man, and He has allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God... (Ecclesiastes 5:19, HCSB). Reading that, some of us immediately want to argue, "God didn't give me wealth and riches! God didn't give me a job that I enjoy!" But even when we argue, scripture still reads, God has also given riches and wealth to every man, and he has allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God...

God has given each of us wealth, especially if you are reading this within the borders of Western Civilization. Even the poor in the United States are wealthy compared to much of the world. But beyond that, the author of Ecclesiastes is demonstrating a valuable truth: wealth has little to do with how you compare with other people, and enjoying your job is something God allows you to do, not something God causes you to do. Enjoying your labor is something God gives us the ability to choose. Like the old Disney song "Whistle While You Work," we can choose to make our jobs as enjoyable as possible, to have a good attitude and to see the positive, regardless of how the man in the next office is behaving or how unreasonable that customer is. God has given every one of us wealth, the ability to enjoy it, and the ability to rejoice in our labor. The question is, will we rejoice in our labor, in the place where God has situated us for the time being? Or will we allow feelings of frustration and resentment to seethe within us and boil over into something nasty and unpleasant?

You have been given wealth, the ability to enjoy it, and the ability to rejoice in your labor. Are you acting like it?

Having a Sports Fan's Kind of Faith

Suggested Reading: Matthew 4:1-11

As a Texas Rangers fan, I've been a little disappointed the last few years. After two years of being spoiled by World Series appearances, they haven't won a single significant game in October for a while now. But I grew up cheering for and believing in a Rangers team that never went to the postseason. Every year, I started out thinking, this could be the year they win it all. Every game I believed they could win. I didn't care if they were down by 12 runs going into the bottom of the ninth inning. I didn't care if they were so far behind half-way through the season they would have to win almost all of their games to make the playoffs. I believed in my team, even when the odds were stacked against them and it seemed impossible. After all, a true fan always believes in his team, no matter how bleak the outlook.

That kind of stubborn faith, that believes in spite of circumstances, is similar to the faith we should have in our God. In Matthew chapter 4, Jesus had been led by the Spirit into the wilderness where Jesus went without food or drink for 40 days and nights until the Devil showed up to tempt him. The Devil's first temptation should have been very difficult to resist for a man who had been hungry for more than a month. After 40 days of hunger Satan tempted Jesus to abuse his power to create some bread and alleviate his hunger. Jesus' response?  He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”

(Matthew 4:4, HCSB).

You see, we talk about believing that God can sustain us even when we don't have what we need, but Jesus lived it. Jesus turned down food after 40 days of hunger because he trusted God to sustain him. After all, Jesus had survived more than a month without food when the human body was only designed to survive for a couple of days without water and a little longer without food. Jesus' continued survival was a demonstration of God's ability to sustain. Even when God hadn't provided the food, God had sustained the life.

Do you really believe you can survive on the word of God, on God's promises and on God's unseen power? Or do you talk like you believe and then worry when no-one is watching? Can you turn down something you need because getting it requires moral compromise or do you have to do the "practical thing." Simply put, do you really believe God can sustain your life without providing the need or do you just talk a good game? Do you live by bread alone or are your sustained by the word of God?

Going in Debt for an Almost Perfect Game

Suggested Reading: Luke 7:36-50

Not long ago, I watched a baseball game where neither team scored a single point up until the seventh inning of the game. One pitcher had a nearly perfect game, giving up only two hits while the other pitcher had given up nearly ten hits. However, one of the two hits given up by the first pitcher was a home-run. That one run off that one hit lost him the game. He was almost perfect -- more perfect than the other pitcher, but he still lost the game. Almost perfect games simply don't matter in baseball.

In Luke chapter 7, Jesus had been invited to dinner in the home of Simon the Pharisee. According to the custom of the day, strangers were allowed to come in and join the conversation when a rabbi was visiting. A woman of ill repute searched out Jesus and sat at his feet. When Simon recognized her, he began thinking about how much better he was than this woman. Jesus sensed his thoughts and told him this parable: "A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other.  But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts" (Luke 7:41-42, NLT). Jesus reminded Simon in a not so subtle fashion that, while his sin may not put him in the same category as this woman, he was incapable of dealing with it himself anymore than this woman was.

Sometimes we can be tempted to look at people whose sin has them in over their heads and forget that, while we may not be in as deep as them, we are in over our heads too. We may not have as much sin-debt as the next person, but neither of us can actually pay our debt. Just like "almost perfect" doesn't count in baseball, our small imperfections are imperfections nonetheless. No matter how good we may be or how much better we think we are than the horrible sinner over there, we all have a debt we are incapable of paying. Jesus stands ready to cancel our debts but let's never  pretend that the size of our debt matters. Regardless of how big or small, we can't repay it. Let's not look down on others who receive same that grace we did.

For Rangers Fans, Giants Fans, Or Anyone Else Whose Team Has Just Lost

As a baseball fan whose team's season has come to a close, I was reminded of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. If you don't mind, I've added a few verses of my own that seem fitting right now.

"For everything there is a season,

"A time for every activity under heaven.
"A time to be born and a time to die.
"A time to plant and a time to harvest.
"A time to kill and a time to heal.
"A time to tear down and a time to build up.
"A time to cry and a time to laugh.
"A time to grieve and a time to dance.
"A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
"A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
"A time to search and a time to quit searching.
"A time to keep and a time to throw away.
"A time to tear and a time to mend.
"A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
"A time to love and a time to hate.
"A time for war and a time for peace."

A time to win and a time to choke.
A time to play on and a time to go home.
A time to keep believing and a time to be disappointed.
A time to lose and a time to defy the odds.
A time to rest and a time to begin again.
A time for self-examination and a time to let go of the past.
A time to hang your head in shame and a time to lift it in pride.
A time to be mocked and eventually a time to win.
There is a time for every activity under heaven.
No matter what team you cheer for.