Friday, June 1, 2018

Victory Always


Friday, June 1, 2018
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?  If God is for us, who can ever be against us?  Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?  Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own?  No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.  Who then will condemn us?  No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.  Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?  Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?  (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”)  No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.  And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.  Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:31-39(NLT)
When you ponder life from the statistical side you have to wonder how anyone can ever imagine considering our existence a continual victory.  Statistically, it just doesn’t add up!  And yet, here’s Paul telling us despite even being slaughtered like sheep, the Christian life is an overwhelming victory. 
Well…a little explanation is begged, please! 
One of the most monumental achievements in baseball lore is batting .400.  That would be an average of getting four hits in every 10 tries.  The guy who was best at it statistically was Tip O’Neill (not the politician) in 1887.  His average was .485 that year, playing for the St Louis Browns.  The last man to accomplish this Iron-man record was Ted Williams 77 years ago, hitting .406 as a member of the Boston Red Sox[2].  But, statistically, even the best .400 sluggers (and there have been 35 of them since 1869 when Major League Baseball began) were failures at the plate more times than not.  (Do the math – if you get up to the plate 10 times, and get 4 hits – the other 6 times you didn’t!)  One of the most recognizable names in baseball was Babe Ruth.  He held the all-time record for the most home runs in a season (60), and in a career (714) for decades.  But the Bambino (as he was nicknamed) struck out almost twice as many times as he hit home runs (1330).  Statistically he was not always victorious!
Translate that into real life.  If, as life-livers, we strike out more than hit home runs, we are also hard-pressed to claim victory always.  Consider your credit score, total number of times with a temper flare-up, traffic accidents (or speeding tickets).  Add up the number of times you showed up late, or broke your promise in some other way.  And lest we leave anyone out, have you ever lied, taken something that didn’t belong to you, or betrayed a friend? 
Let’s face it, you’ve never been victorious always.  And that has more to do with the score-keeping than the reality of how score is really kept.  By keeping the statistics of human accomplishment (or failure) we see just how fragile and prone to failure are these earthen vessels.  Yet Paul declares our victory is overwhelming – far greater than hitting .406 in a season.  The Apostle declares that our victory, our life, our eternity is dependent not on human ability, but on the love of God…which never fails.
For You Today
A great exercise today would be looking over your lifetime batting average.  Take note of the hits and home runs…but pay attention to the times you struck out, received a pass, popped-out, fouled-out, were benched, or even failed to show up for the game.
Then remember – it was all those failures (including your supposed successes) for which Christ died, and the loving grace of God covers.  Then thank Him that His record book in Heaven counts, and yours will remain unpublished.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

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