Calling and Taking Initiative

I grew up playing Little League baseball as a kid, and my coaches stressed the importance of fundamentals at the plate, on the mound, on the base paths and in the field.  One aspect of fielding we worked on was knowing what to do should the ball be hit your way.  If a fly ball came in your direction and a catch was likely possible, we were taught to "call" the ball by shouting audibly to communicate with other fielders.  There was also a pecking order to avoid dangerous collisions or dropped balls if a ball was hit between teammates.  An outfielder had the right to "call off" an infielder as their momentum was heading in the right direction, and the center fielder had the right of way over a converging right or left fielder.

Understanding the need to take initiative to call the ball before catching it was as important as knowing when to peel off and allow a teammate to make the catch.  This was not decided in the pressure filled moments of the game but during practice under the watchful eyes of coaches.  There was no time to debate or discuss while the ball sailed through the air, and knowing these unwritten rules helped players work together to win.  When it was time to move up to a new division those old rules stayed consistent and relevant, adopted without question because that is how baseball is meant to be played.  Baseball is a team sport, and making sure the 9 players on the field and those riding the pine (on the bench) understood their roles was an important key to success.

The concept of taking initiative to call a ball and knowing when to give way because you are "called off" by another fielder who is held responsible to do so reminds me a bit of how God has established complimentary roles in the marriage relationship:  a wife is called to submit to her husband as unto the LORD, and a husband is called to love his wife as Christ sacrificially loved the church.  A center fielder can choose not to call off an outfielder or infielder, but it is a judgment call he learns to make.  Many times the ball has fallen to the turf because the one who was meant to take initiative assumed the other fielder who called the ball had it covered.  When there is any doubt and the center fielder can make the catch, it is in the best interests of the whole team for the player to take charge and make the play.

The way a follower of Jesus "takes charge" is NOT like a center fielder who shouts to communicate but by denying and humbling self before God in faith, obedience and love.  Looking to the example of Jesus is critical for all Christians as we submit to one another in love, indwelt and led by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus did not tout His authority as the Son of God but made Himself of no reputation, chose to embrace the role of a servant, was made in the likeness of men and was obedient to God unto death.  Each child of God is to respond in obedience to the call of Jesus Christ to love one another, and yielding to Him is a key to walking uprightly.  Before we experience conflict, disagreements or pressure situations it is good to know our responsibilities before Him:  to love God and serve one another according to His command.

Considering God's Work

"Consider the work of God; for who can make straight what He has made crooked?"

Ecclesiastes 7:13

It is good for a man to consider God and His works.  God worked in creating the world and established natural laws of matter, motion, gravitation and chemical interactions.  All the sciences, the calculations of mathematicians and physicists, to be proved and functional must align with what is.  Like God does not change, the fact level foundations and plumb walls exist are a testimony to the order of the universe God has created.  When God makes something straight, no man has the power to alter it any more than we can shift the earth off its 23.5 degree axis.

The statement of the preacher is citing the opposite truth:  who can make straight what God has made crooked?  It is possible for us to stretch a coil of wire or string into a straight line by force, but no one can make straight what God has made crooked.  He has made judgments according to righteousness that lying, theft and murder are sins.  Adultery is a perversion of the marriage covenant before the LORD, a crooked thing that cannot be made straight.  Man's way is to debate what is crooked or straight, to say a thing is crooked because of oppressive tradition or a construct of a society rooted in ignorance.  People who do not fear God can protest and complain all they want, but what God has made crooked no one can make straight.

A line can be crooked in countless ways, yet there is only one straight way.  John the Baptist came to prepare the way of the Messiah, to make His paths straight.  Some have said "all paths lead to God," yet God revealed Jesus to be the Way, the Truth and the Life--that faith in Jesus Christ is the narrow, straight way to the living God because there is no other way to heaven and eternal life.  The prophecy fulfilled in Christ was cited from Isaiah in Luke 3:5-6:  "Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; ⁶ and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"  Wonderful, isn't it, that God is able to do what man cannot, to make crooked places straight and rough ways smooth so all can see God's salvation?

Man can use heavy machinery to grade soil in preparation for a level foundation but cannot do what only God can do, for when God makes something crooked no one can make it straight.  All men are revealed to be crooked when compared to God's righteous law and ways.  On our own we cannot straighten ourselves up to merit salvation, amend our ways to earn forgiveness, or make ourselves acceptable to God by efforts of the flesh.  Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."  By defining what is straight God has deemed all other ways crooked, and no one can make them straight. 

Man's justifications, protests or disagreements cannot do anything to make what is crooked straight.  That's how it is based upon the unchanging God who was, is and is to come.  Instead of being smug or arrogant about this knowledge, we ought to be humbled and grateful God has made Himself known to us so we could see our crooked ways.  We could not make ourselves straight or upright by working, and by grace He worked to make the way straight for us to enter to abundant, eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ.

Not in Vain

"Since there are many things that increase vanity, how is man the better? ¹² For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?"

Ecclesiastes 6:11-12

Reading through Ecclesiastes is a wondrous reminder of the new covenant we have entered into by faith in Jesus Christ today!  All the questions and wonderings of Solomon the preacher find an answer in our LORD Jesus who is altogether good, provides purpose, guidance and also reveals what is to come.  This world is passing away, but in Christ there is the hope of enduring fruitfulness forever.

While we cannot know what will happen after us under the sun, Jesus taught we ought not worry about tomorrow because sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  The Son of God Jesus came to comfort troubled hearts by faith in Him.  The more we learn and grow, the more we realise we need Jesus today more than ever.  All flesh is as grass and our days pass like a shadow, but the Light of the World Jesus can shine bright through our lives by His grace.

Because Jesus is the Author of life and gives eternal life to all who trust in Him, He knows what is good in this life on earth and in the next.  The command of Jesus for His disciples to follow Him dovetails nicely into what God said previously in Micah 6:8:  "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"  Praise the LORD our Good Shepherd will guide us now and forever to walk in His ways.

God does more than make a man better because He transforms us, and nothing He does is in vain.  He IS the good in life, the God who endures now and forever.

Reminded to Restore

On the night Jesus was betrayed, Peter was guilty of doing something he believed was impossible:  he denied Jesus three times.  After Jesus rose from the dead, He never mentioned Peter's failure.  He did not bring up the incident as a joke, hint about it to embarrass Peter or shame him, but Jesus did initiate an opportunity for Peter to publicly affirm his genuine love for Jesus.

Three times in the hearing of the other disciples Jesus singled Peter out and asked if he loved Him.  After Peter affirmed twice he did love His LORD Jesus, John 21:17 says:  "He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep."  The Bible does not say precisely why Peter was grieved, but the fact the question was repeated three times was a reminder of his three denials of Jesus.

Jesus did not remind Peter to humiliate him but to lovingly restore him.  Jesus demonstrated His love for Peter and all sinners--even those who denied He was the Son of God and scornfully condemned Him to death on the cross--by dying on the cross.  God's active, sacrificial love is not expressed in one moment but continuously, persistently and graciously.  Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him because Jesus loved Peter.  The recall of Peter's failure was redemptive and intended for his restoration:  instead of looking back with grief Peter could look back with a smile because Jesus loved him, loved him, loved him.

When we are reminded of our sinful failures and am at our worst, having been forgiven by Jesus the painful recollection of the past is an affirmation of God's love at the present through the Gospel.  This morning I considered the words of the song "At the Cross:"  "I know a place, a wonderful place where accused and condemned find mercy and grace, where the wrongs we have done and the wrongs done to us were nailed there with Him there on the cross."  We are glad to know our sins have been atoned for on Calvary, and it is good for us to know God made a provision for sins committed against us as well.  As we have received the mercy and grace of God, we are thus enabled to extend it to others as Jesus did to Peter--and us.

Love keeps no record of wrongs yet we often do.  Should we be reminded of our past sin, also remember how we have been forgiven by Jesus who continually affirms His love for us.  Sin is always grievous but God's love comes up trumps every time without fail.  Jesus did not desire for Peter to continue to grieve over his past but to rejoice in the love of Christ moving forward.