The City of Brotherly Love (Friday Devotional)

 

Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.

- 1 Thessalonians 5:11

One of the best stories of this year’s baseball season has been that of Trea Turner, outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies. Over the offseason, Turner signed an 11-year, $300 million contract with Philadelphia, his reward for years of All-Star play in Washington and Los Angeles and a deal that would presumably plant him in Philly for the rest of his career. As you might expect with a contract of that magnitude, the expectations for Turner were sky-high: more All-Star game appearances, playoff berths, and maybe even a Most Valuable Player award somewhere down the line. Anything less would be seen as a disappointment.

So it came as a shock to everyone when Turner’s season got off to a disastrous start. Having won a batting title as recently as 2021, Turner was now hitting barely above .200 at the All-Star break, the kind of batting average that would get some players sent down to the minor leagues. A full four months into the season, Turner looked lost at the plate and was visibly despondent, telling reporters after one particularly rough outing, “Obviously, I’m the reason we lost the game.”

In Philadelphia, a city notoriously tough on its athletes, a place where fans once booed and threw snowballs at Santa Claus, the assumption among outsiders was that the newly signed Turner was dead in the water. Philly fans would eat him alive; he might never win them over after such an abysmal beginning to his tenure there.

But the fans surprised everyone when the Phillies started a new homestand in early August. Every time Turner came to bat, the fans rose to their feet and cheered like he was the lovechild of Paul Revere and a Philly cheesesteak. Not only did they not boo him, they roared rapturously, giving him a standing ovation every time he came to the plate.

And something incredible happened. That first night he notched an RBI single. The next day he got two hits, including a home run, and drove in four runners. Day by day, he seemed to recover his form, hitting like the Trea Turner everyone had known before 2023. Billboards paid for by Turner started popping up all over the city, simply saying, “Thank you, Philly.” From that first day the fans rose to cheer him, Turner hit .337 with 16 homers and 9 steals in 48 games—the kind of stats that, over the course of a regular season, would garner MVP votes. And as I write this, Philadelphia is currently two wins away from a World Series berth, with Turner helping lead the way—and the turning point, according to everyone, was when Phillies fans rose to cheer an athlete who deserved nothing but boos.

We underestimate the power of and the need for encouragement. We often regard it as a nice bonus after a job well done, something you shouldn’t necessarily expect but which can serve as a cherry on top when you achieve something. Encouragement comes on your best days, if it comes at all, as a direct result of your success.

But for believers in Jesus Christ, encouragement can be something better: an act of grace. When the world says your brother is a failure, you can remind him he is a child of God. When your sister is convinced she’s worthless, you can tell her Jesus doesn’t think so and neither do you. When somebody’s performance calls for booing, you can rise to your feet and offer a standing ovation instead.

If all we give our fellow believers is what they deserve, we’ve learned nothing from the cross. If we demand excellence, or worse, perfection, then we can expect nothing but disappointment. Better then to lift up those who cannot lift themselves up, to offer hope to those who see little reason for it. Philadelphia fans did it this season—perhaps the church of Jesus Christ can learn a thing or two from the City of Brotherly Love.