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Published: 07 October 2017

I’m not a true baseball fan but two of my favorite movies are about baseball.  I’ve watched “Sandlot” and “Field of Dreams” numerous times.   In Field of Dreams, baseball players from the past come out of a cornfield to play ball, make things right and restore a father/son relationship.  It’s a touching story but there’s one part that really grabs me every time.  Ray’s brother-in-law Mark cannot see the ball players that everybody else sees.  It’s frustrating, maddening but eventually almost humorous.  After a near tragedy with Ray’s daughter, one of the ball players saves the little girl’s life and Mark “believes.”  The look on his face when he sees what everyone else had been seeing is etched on my mind.  Mark’s whole paradigm about Ray, his sister, the ball field and the note at the bank does a 180 degree change.  Mystery turned to reality.  Belief brought vision.  Exasperation turned to excitement.  Of course Mark’s fictional repentance has actually happened a few billion times in the lives of those who receive Christ.  Disciples of Jesus don’t see apostles playing baseball but they do begin to see Jesus for who He is and with that finally get some clarity about what life is about and how to live.  The apostle Paul had a moment like that.  Once he believed, all that he had opposed he promoted.  All that he had denied, he affirmed.  He gave his life for what he had tried to destroy.  Our testimony may not be as dramatic but be sure of this—Jesus is still willing to meet people and open their eyes.  He may ask some of us to join Him in the process.  On Sunday, Lord willing, we’ll study a man who said “yes” to such a venture.

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Published: 29 September 2017

I was never very good at Algebra.  I could rarely see the practical benefits of all those equations and using letters where there should have been numbers never seemed right.  The letters complicated the calculations for me (and for a few of my lazy friends as well).  Life with God can be quite complicated to calculate too.   For example, we might think that in light of our past, our experiences and our failures that we can never be useful to God.  Or, we might look at someone else and conclude that they have burned all their bridges and they will remain “outside the fold of God.”  If we get stuck like that it means we have left grace out of our calculations.  The apostle Paul (formerly Saul) was a tyrant against the church for a short time.  We know from the Word itself that there were people who doubted Saul could ever be different.  They had forgotten to keep grace in their calculations.  John Stott wrote, “Saul had a calculated plan to destroy the church but he had left out of his calculations the sovereign grace of God.”  ”The sovereign grace of God!”  It is amazing, wonderful and bountiful, no wonder David wrote, “My cup runneth over.”   Grace is more than unmerited favor.  Grace is more than a force of God.  Grace is the active initiative of God by His Spirit toward people.  His eyes are everywhere looking for people who will respond to His wooing.  Let’s be cautious in our judgment of others and in our judgment of ourselves.  Never calculate without the grace of God.