It's All on the Line

It's all on the line tonight in the World Series. It's Game 7! One team will be crowned the champions while another team will forever carry the label of "loser." The Texas Rangers are the last team to lose a World Series Game 7, after they had been only one strike away from winning the Series in Game 6. Ranger fans still feel that sting. My favorite team's only appearance in the World Series went the full seven games in 1982. Like this year's San Francisco Giants, they were up 3 games to 2, needing to win just one more in the opposing team's ballpark. Unfortunately, that didn't turn out too well for the Milwaukee Brewers, losing those final two games to their eventual arch rivals in St. Louis. Brewer fans' feelings about the Cardinals were forever cemented that October and a label of "losers" have gone with it ever since.

Baseball, like life, is played out for the long haul. Decisions are made with each pitch and hundreds of decisions are made per game. All of that occurs in a season that has 162 of those games. When you add the potential of playoffs: teams can play almost 200 games. Tonight's game will be the Royals 177th of the year, not including exhibition games.

But now it's down to one game.  One decision can make or break it. One decision can make the difference between being known as a champion or just another loser. With a loss, Kansas City fans will still only hold 1985 as dear. (There has not been much talk about 1980 over their run this month. They lost that Series.) With a loss, this Giants team will be forgotten in the shadows of the bright light of those championship teams in 2010 & 2012. That's a whole lot riding on one game... on one decision. It's all on the line.

Life give us plenty of all-on-the-line moments, though we may not realize it. We will go through the decisions of a day or take a look at several days within a week or a month and think that not much is at stake. We goof up. We hurt people. We sin. We reconcile. We say "we're sorry." We hold grudges. All-in-all it's part of life and life goes on. But every so often we are faced with choices that do put it all on the line. The choice we make might very well sever a relationship forever. A simple slip-up, while we're not paying attention, might injure ourselves or others.

Again, baseball is a helpful analogy. Playing 162 games may lead us to believe at the time that the blown game back in May really wasn't a big deal. But hindsight might say otherwise. Look at this season: when all was said and done it was only two little games that separated the Seattle Mariners from Kansas City's playoff spot. Boy, don't they seem like worlds apart now. Each game matters. Each choice has consequences.

As flawed people, how do we make the most of each pitch, each at-bat, each choice that we make? We're going to goof up plenty along the way. But remember, the difference between a player batting .350 and batting .250 is huge. It is the difference between playing or sitting on the bench. It is the difference between being an All-Star and being a utility player. Likewise there is a huge difference between children of God, sinners, who walk the way of Christ and those who don't.  It's not difference between batting 1.000 or batting .000. No, disciples still sin and make poor choices and people living solely in the world do make many good choices. But over that long haul, the difference between walking with Christ and not may be a whole lot like the difference between batting .350 and .250... or the difference between the Royals and the Mariners.

Jesus has come so that we might have life and have it abundantly. Walking in Christ and training to walk in Christ through daily prayer, study, service, and acts of gratitude can produce wonderful fruit for children of God. Spiritual disciplines becoming spiritual habits opens up the door of God's Kingdom at hand right now. Practicing a living faith leads you to naturally make the choices that bring life. You're now ready to bat .350 and experience that abundant life right now.

God loves the winners and losers equally. Christ died on the cross for the .350 and the .250 batter. We are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God and we are all offered forgiveness. But in order to thrive and enjoy this abundant, meaningful life that God desires for us, it takes training... spiritual training. And after all that training, when you face those moments when it's all on the line, you will be ready. You will have fought the good fight and run the race as best you could.