'We Win'

4/21/2020

I Was Thinking…

Like you, I’ve been doing my best to focus on the positive in these days of “Sheltering in Place”. One positive has been to watch some pre-recorded Atlanta Braves Baseball games. With all sports on hold, the sports channels have been helping us ‘sports junkies’ get our ‘fix’ with great games of the past.

One of the joys has been to watch games where we already know the outcome. This past Sunday I watched the famous game in Brave lore that occurred on October 14, 1992. It is one of those games that any Braves fan can tell you where they were when Francisco Cabrera swung a base hit to score David Justice and Sid Bream (slow, with aging knees, Sid Bream) to a bottom of the ninth inning victory. That was the seventh game of the National League Championship Series and that victory sent the Braves to a second consecutive World Series appearance. The City of Atlanta went ‘nuts’ with that Cabrera swing of the bat.

What I’ve noticed about myself is when I know the results of a game is going to be a victory, I’m not nearly as stressed nor concerned during the game (even if there is an error or the other team is in the lead). Why? Because I know the end of the story! When I know the end of the story…I can simply sit back and enjoy the story as it unfolds.

If that is true about baseball…could this be true about life? So, the question is “What do we know about the end of our story that causes us to be nervous? OR What do we know about the end of our story that causes us to sit back and enjoy the story as it unfolds?”

This is where our theology becomes very important…Theology in academia is simply the ‘study of God’. But in my simple terms…well, I have a formula. Theology is how we think about God…which is important, because how we think about God effects how we live for God (Or how we don’t live for God)…that is important, because how we live for God (Or don’t live for God) effects how others think about God…and the formula continues in exponential ways.

How we see God impacts our story and how we see it ending. Do we believe that God loves all people? Or do we believe God withholds love until we behave in certain ways? Do we believe that unless we can know a certain day and time that we came to believe in Jesus, then we aren’t a Christian (A Damascus Road Experience)? Or do we believe that people can come to know Jesus over time through all sorts of people and events, never really knowing the exact day and time (An Emmaus Road Experience)? Do we believe there is room in God’s heart for both? Do we believe God is expressed in and through many names? Or do we believe God is only known as Yahweh and ultimately through Jesus?

To know what and why we believe becomes critical to how we understand the end of the game. It was the Apostle Paul that said it was important to “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12)

Here’s what I know and believe…God is Love and that drives my life. And if I’m correct then the end of the game will be a victory. So, I’m going relax and do my best to enjoy life as it unfolds.

What do you believe and why?