- Apr 3
- 2 min read
With the start of the major league baseball season and many of you being fans and the fact that many of you have kids playing baseball or softball, I thought I would write an article that included that as a theme. You might be thinking, “What can a Christian learn from baseball/softball?” I am not here to give pitching or hitting advice. I want to talk about the concept of team. Baseball/softball is a team sport, and you need each other to win the game. Yes, a pitcher might have a perfect game, but they will need some runs from the batters to win the game. The reality is that a perfect game is pretty rare so pitchers are usually going to need those in the field to catch the ball and try to get the runners out.
That makes me think about the church. The church should be a team. The passage that comes to my mind is Ephesians 4:16. It says, “From whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” The whole body in the passage seems to be the church, and joint and individual part seems to refer to individual Christians. How does the body grow? Each individual part causes it to grow. If we think about our bodies, we need every part of our bodies working together so our bodies function properly. If parts of my body are not function properly, it affects the whole. If the outfield keeps dropping routine fly balls, the team is going to have a tough time winning.
What is the lesson for me, individually? As a part of the body of Christ, what can I do to help it to grow? It is not just the preachers’, elders’, or deacons’ job to make the church grow. They have a part but not the whole. What talents or abilities has God blessed each of us with that we can use for His glory?
