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Thursday, September 01, 2005
2 Timothy 3: 15-16
It was the first time I'd ever spent time in "off-season" anything. I mean, I'd played ball for a long time, but it was at the local park with dads as coaches and you were sponsored by a local restaurant. Once in high school, we "worked out" to get ready for the sport. I didn't understand what any of it had to do with baseball, really.
We skipped rope. Lots of it, too...like those boxers you see in the movies.
We wore these gloves that were really like having a work glove super-glued to a ping-pong paddle and they would hit ground balls to us.
We took stretched like crazy, particularly our arms.
We took those orange traffic cones and set baseballs on them and smacked them into a curtain where it would fall harmlessly to the ground after travelling all of about two feet.
We lifted weights, but not to get bigger. Light weights, lots of repititions.
We ran. Long ways with the cross country team.
I just wanted to play baseball. None of that other stuff seemed to have much to do with baseball. Some of the things in that list at least had a little something remotely tied to it, but by and large, it was all just sweaty, miserable times. Baseball was fun. Training wasn't.
And then I noticed something.
I wasn't tripping over my feet as much. In fact, I was moving towards ground balls a lot faster, too.
My technique for fielding ground balls began to look like a professional player more and more every day.
My arm didn't hurt as much after throwing all day in practice.
When I batted, it seemed like I hit more line drives rather than pop-ups or ground balls.
I felt stronger, which meant that I hit balls farther and threw harder, but at the same time actually increased my flexibility.
My endurance and energy were way up. At practice, I was more sharp mentally as well as physically because I wasn't as tired. I could practice longer, and get more out of it, because I was "in shape."
There was something to it that all those little things added up to. On the surface, they didn't seem to have much to do with baseball, but one you applied them to baseball, well, all of a sudden, your quality of play improved.
It's the same way with the Bible. Sometimes it seems like we read it to read it, and the stories are kind of interesting, but they don't add up to much. But that's not at all what the Bible claims it should be doing...check out 2 Timothy 3: 15 & 16 from The Message:
"Every part of Scriptue is God-breathed (see yesterday's entry) and useful in one way or another--showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us."
See, the word is good for...
...showing us truth. There is an absolute truth out there, and God defines what it is. We can learn what those are by reading Scripture.
...exposing our rebellion. Our hearts are deceitfully wicked and we can usually justify whatever behavior we want. God's Word can show us where our hearts have gotten out of whack.
...correcting our mistakes. Not only does it show us where we need work, but it shows us how to make amends when we've blown it or how to change our hearts and minds by drawing on His strength to do it.
...and finally, training us to live the way God wants us to. The idea behind the Greek word is that we'd be trained in living the way a parent trains a child to truly live.
And why is all this important?
Because God has a task for each of us to do on this earth. We are shaped by the word and given everything we need to do that task by Him...and seeking His will is the only way to find that out, and get prepared to do it.
So, for today, how can you make the shift from simply reading His Word to actually getting the intended results out of it (Iike the baseball training)? What are the things you've learned that would help others to do the same thing?
Brent 4:51 AM
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