The “World Series” Of Life

I don’t follow major league baseball all during the season, but when it comes to a team from my state battling it out for the World Series, I tune in. The games are not over until the last out of the ninth inning. However, anything can happen on the last out. A player can strike out, walk, or make a hit or even a home run.

Life is not over until the last breath or heartbeat. How one fights through life matters to the final moment. Are you going through life with the purpose of winning, or are you losing out on God ‘s best for your life?

As in baseball, or any other sport, it involves practice, discipline, and focus. Are you practicing the things that will bring a good end result? Are you reading the Bible, praying, and having fellowship and support from other Christians? Are you fulfilling God’s purpose for your life? You need to be part of the “team” of the family of God to win in the battle for life.

What are the battles of life? There are three.

• The battle between your sin nature and the spiritual nature.
• The battle of physical illnesses, economic hard times, emotional and relational issues. and moral issues.
• The battle between the culture and biblical truth.

Instead of two baseball teams you have two kingdoms battling against each other, the Kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. You must play both offense and defense. You don’t have 90 mph baseballs being pitched to you, but you may have to “step up to the plate” and defend against the flaming darts of Satan. The offense and defense are both expressed in Ephesians 6:11-17. “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against  the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places… In all circumstances take up the shield, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.”

What happens in baseball on the final out sometimes ties the game. If it does, the game is not over, and it goes into extra innings. However, at the end of your physical life, it is over. There will be no extra time, but there is an afterlife, and where you spend it is determined by whether or not you have received Jesus Christ as your Savior. You will then spend eternity in God ‘s loving Presence. You won’t receive a trophy for winning a major league World Series, but you will receive a crown of life. “Blessed is the one who remains steadfast under trial, for  when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him”(James 1:12).

Determine to be a winner in the “World Series” of life. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul?”