Worship

Scripture

Baseball is a funny game. It’s the one game where you fail far more than you succeed. Think about it this way. If you get a hit 3 out of every 10 at bats you’re doing well. Look at it another way: you can fail 7 out of 10 times and still be considered successful. 

How many of us would have passed in school if we consistently made 30% on our exams? How many of us would be able to keep a job showing up 2 out of 5 days during the work week? How successful would our marriages be if we only loved our spouse 30% of the time? The answer is quite simple: we would have no high school or college diploma, would be jobless, and likely not be married for very long. 

The more important question is how successful would we be in honoring God if we only did it 30% of the time? When faced with a choice to honor and glorify our flesh vs obedience to God what would our batting average be? Hopefully greater than 30%! In today’s passage I was drawn to the final parts of chapter 10 where the Bible explains the reason for Saul’s downfall and ultimately his death. It’s obvious from our previous readings that at one point in time Saul had favor in the eyes of the Lord but that favor had come into question over some of the choices he made over time. Chapter 10 vs 13 says, “Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord…”

The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. We know that we are all destined to that end but the hope that we have is life beyond the grave through Jesus. Fortunately for us as New Testament believers we have a hope beyond our batting average, beyond the failures that would surely put us in the same place as Saul found himself. One part is similar in that we are all going to die due to the fallen world in which we live but the end is where we find the difference between us and Saul. We have the blood of Jesus that covers all of our sins and leads to life everlasting. Thank God he took care of all our swings and misses. Thank you Jesus!

Prayer

HONOR GOD

CLOSING PRAYER

Father, may we never forget the sacredness of Christ’s blood. We thank you that you loved us enough to sacrifice your only son so that we may have everlasting life. Lord, through your Spirit who resides within us, guide our hearts towards a greater understanding of who You are and the preciousness of Christ’s sacrifice. In Jesus Name, Amen.