Little League Lesson

If you have enough time, read Romans 5.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us….For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Romans 5: 8, 10

I’m not saying what I did was wrong (and I certainly can’t imagine you telling me that it was) – but it sure made me think and wonder.

What did I do, you ask?

What I did was this – I cheered for my son at his baseball game last weekend.

The score was even – 2-2. The fourth of six innings came up and Coach decides to put my son in as pitcher – for not one, but two innings. Might make many a dad proud – but made me stomach-churning nervous. This being his first year with this 9-10 year olds league, and his first year pitching – YIKES – I really didn’t want him to give up the go ahead run and end up losing the game!!!! Go son go! You can do it! You can get them!

Oh, was I ever hoping for him to get that team out!

It wasn’t until afterward that the irony which my vocation beckons me to notice came to light.

Here I am – a father – cheering, hoping, wishing, yearning (was I even praying as well??) for my son to beat all these other kids on the opposing team while at the same time trying to serve a Father who sent His Son to lose so that the opposing team might win.

(…when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.)

While I was cheering for my son, did I have a single thought about what a homerun, or even a hit might mean to one of the kids coming up to bat? What a win might mean to them, to their team, to their families – to that dad on the other side who was cheering, hoping, wishing, yearning (was he even praying as well?) for his son?

Of course not! I was concerned mainly, if not solely, with my own.

And yet in our Heavenly Father we find a Father who is willing to give up His own for the sake of everyone else – AND a Son who desires the same!

Hey Son, I’ll be so proud of you if you go out there and get creamed.

How strange it seems.

And then the response – absolutely Abba (Dad), Father – that has always been our plan, hasn’t it?

And strangest yet – mainly because it hits home – is when that Son turns to us and says, Now I want you (who have now been made children of God, yourselves) to love others in this same way (John 13:34).

Thankfully I’ll console myself with the thought that Jesus couldn’t possibly have been talking about baseball at the time since it wouldn’t be played for another just less than two thousand years. (Though it does seem that long since the Orioles had a winning season – but I digress.)

Anyhow, living as the son or daughter of God who lives in partnership with the Father and Son in a life of suffering, giving, dying, - losing – for others (yes, even those on the opposing team) might actually be easier on the ball field than in “real life”. And yet that is what we are called to do – for that is what true, real, pure LOVE is.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those how love them. Luke 6:32

And yet, as I continue to wrestle with my own call to love I can only become that much more amazed at His love for me.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, teach us to trust in your promise that the love we live out by daily dying for the sake of others only leads to resurrection, theirs and ours. And as we don’t have such love within ourselves, give us your love that we might actually live it. In your name. Amen.

OH YEAH – I forgot to tell you – though several batters got on base, no one scored and my son recorded six strikeouts. Then after our ace pitched the last inning the game ended in a tie. This Saturday you’ll find me at our first playoff game – and yes, I’ll still be rooting for my son and his team – but maybe in a little different state of mind.