Learning From Baseball: Make Your Choice!

Key Verse:

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7 (NLT)

A Major League Baseball player chooses his bat very carefully. Why? His bat is his only offensive weapon in the game. His skill as a batter is either helped or hindered by the bat he chooses to use.

In the early days of MLB, players made their own bats. It wasn’t until 1884 that the first standard baseball bats were mass-produced.

What does this have to do with Jesus-followers?

A lot, really! Last week we talked a bit about the Sword of the Spirit which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17b). We learned the first century Roman soldiers used a sword called a gladius. It is short, has a very strong sharp point, and is double-edged. We compared the gladius to what the writer of Hebrews said about the word of God (Hebrews 4:12). We closed with the truth of its purpose ringing in our ears: the word of God exposes our thoughts and desires to us so we can be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2).

But our gladius is useless to us until we take it.

To take something is to reach for and hold it. I (and you) must choose the sword of the Spirit before we will take the sword of the Spirit. It will not just hop into our hands. We take something on purpose, with intention.

To take requires action. We reach for AND we open and close our hand around something in order to take it.

The only way we can take the Sword of the Spirit is to choose to take it. I know, that seems like a no-brainer, but is it?

Every time we’re faced with the schemes of the enemy, we encounter a crossroad of decision. Are we going to leave our gladius strapped to our side, or are we going to take it out of its sheath and use it?

Today’s verse is the key to how we take the sword of the Spirit. We cannot go our own way (make our own bat) and be successful in our battles against the schemes of the devil.

Nope! We have to submit to God. How? By accepting His word is truth; all of it! Until we do, we will go our own way.

We must believe the word of God is truth before we will take it, and we must take it before we can use it. It is only when we use the word of God to make our choices, that we will be supernaturally successful in the spiritual battles of our lives. It is in embracing God’s word as truth, that we are able to resist our enemy and send him running.

Remember: Jesus Christ has already won the war for us, but our success in the battles still matter. We’ll talk more about that next week.

Between Then and Now…

1 Read your Bible. Maybe read the book of James this week. There are only five chapters, so you can read a chapter a day. Ask Holy Spirit to help you understand what you read and show you how to take it and use it.

2 Exercise. Choose a couple of lower body exercises to do each day. It takes strength to stand firm. Don’t forget to “be strong in the LORD and in His mighty power.” (Ephesians 6:10)

3 Pray for yourself. Ask Jesus to help you see your thoughts and desires from His perspective. Ask Jesus to help you recognize the schemes of the enemy. Ask Jesus to help you choose and use the sword of the Spirit.

I’m praying for you and I’m praying for myself. LORD, it is so easy to miss the indicators of danger until they are upon us. Help us to be alert. Help us to stay close to You, agreeing with You and choosing your ways over our own. Help us to choose obedience to Your word when our thoughts and desires are different than Yours. We know Your word is truth, but our flesh is weak and it wants what it wants. It wars with our spirits and lures us away from You. Keep us close LORD. Amen.

Digging Deeper:

We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 (NLT)

If you have not yet met Jesus, you can meet Him today. He created you. He loves you. He wants you to be a part of His family. I encourage you to step into the life He created you to live. You will still have the troubles of this world, but you will no longer be facing them alone. I’m praying for you! https://peacewithgod.net/mobile/?utm_source=Microsoft&utm_medium=CPC&utm_term=HowToGoToHeaven&utm_campaign=USPWGMobileSearchMic

Fun Facts:

Louisville Slugger bats are no longer the brand most used in MLB. Marucci was the brand used most on opening day 2021. *

Wooden bats require more skill to use. Maple wood bats began to replace the Ash wood bats of the early days after Barry Bonds started using a maple wood bat. **

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

* https://www.batdigest.com/mlb-bats/#:~:text=1%20Honus%20Wagners%20Bat.%20Honus%20Wagner%20used%20a,push%20that%20guy%20back%20in%20the%20majors.%20

** https://deadspin.com/how-maple-bats-kicked-ash-and-conq