“Am
I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please
people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
-
Galatians 1:10
In
baseball, there is a simple principle taught to all ballplayers, something they
hear from the first time they pick up a glove to the last time they lace up
their cleats: keep your eye on the ball. As straightforward as it sounds, it’s
a mantra that gets repeated in every practice, every game, and every film
session, and for good reason.
For
a game with so many lulls in the action, when the ball is finally put in play,
there is suddenly a plethora of things to consider all at once. The batter must
decide which base to pursue, whether to test or respect the fielder’s arm, and whether
to slide or come in standing up. The fielder has to figure out where to
position himself to get to the ball as quickly as possible, ensure that none of
his teammates can get there faster, and decide who to throw to next. All the
other players on defense have to get in a position to help their teammate, one
by catching his throw, the rest by defending their own space of the field in
case things go haywire and the ball misses its intended target. All of these
decisions have to be made in mere seconds.
With
so much to consider, it’s always a temptation for players to take their eyes
off the ball. The batter might see the general arc of his hit right off the bat
and assume a standup double, but if he’s giving his full attention to second
base instead of also following the ball, he misses the weird carom it takes off
the outfield wall that would have given him a triple had he hustled the whole
way. The outfielder might take his eyes off the ball just for a moment, just
long enough to gauge the speed of the runner and guess where he’s headed, and subsequently
miss how in that split second the ball catches a gust of wind and lands 5 feet
past his reach. For the offense and the defense alike, the rule remains the
same—keep your eye on the ball or you can ruin the entire play.
A
similar rule holds true in the life of faith—to be truly faithful, you have to remember
who is most important to you and fix your eyes on Him. There are a million
different impulses, temptations, people, movements, and distractions that
threaten daily to pull you from the way of Christ. Every time you are asked to
compromise your principles for some “greater good”, to follow the crowd down
the wide road when Christ commands you to take the narrow one, the temptation
exists to do what’s easy instead of what’s good, what’s self-satisfying instead
of what’s self-sacrificial.
That’s
why it’s so important to keep your eyes on the cross, seeking not to please
yourself or the people around you, but God alone. When everything is viewed
through the prism of your faith in Christ, when Jesus is truly the Lord of your
life and not just a factor in it, those daily decisions become simpler. Instead
of navigating a minefield of pros and cons, of trying to please as many people
as possible while offending as few as you can, you have one central, unyielding
concern—to be faithful to the God who has always been faithful to you.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “You can please some of the
people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but
you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” Instead of spending your
time deciding which people to please in any given moment, may you give your
full attention to pleasing the one who gave everything for you on the cross.
With so much happening around you every day, remember this simple rule: keep
your eye on the cross.
No comments:
Post a Comment