First, I am not a baseball fan at any level. Aside from playing catch with neighbor boys as a kid or playing catch in the backyard with my children, I have never played baseball. Oh yeah, I did play one year of little league baseball in the fifth grade for the Glasgow Red Sox. My only accomplishment was being the top candy salesman for our fundraiser program. And, my dad helped me to win that! Not to bore you with the reasons why I’m not a baseball fan, but it comes back to my perception of it being a slow game and time struggles to pass during the competition. However, I do appreciate the strategy and planning involved from a coaching standpoint. I say all that to say, I found myself watching a few minutes of the recent Men’s College World Series Championship because it was a close game.
The game was between the eventual champion, the University of Tennessee Volunteers and the Texas A & M Aggies. The two teams played the “best of three” series and the Vols won the final game by a run. After the game, I saw a social media post from one of the Texas A & M fan pages depicting the baseball team in a circle with the heading, “We’ve seen ‘em win. We’ve seen ‘em lose. But, we’ve never seen ‘em quit.” While not a baseball fan, I am a fan of quotes. This quote connects with me because it connects with all of us.
On some level or in some area of our life, we all have achieved and lost, but have we quit? I have quit things in my life if I felt something wasn’t “winnable,” if something was vain, or if I realized I could be better at something else. When I think of winning, losing, and persisting, I think of Job. Life on a good day is tough. Hopefully, we haven’t gone through the experiences of Job, but the patient Job even says in Job 14:1-2, “Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue.” Beginning in the book of Genesis through today, we all understand winning, losing, and a desire to quit when we are overwhelmed and feel we have no response to our challenge or situation.
As Job tells us, our days can be full of trouble. Despite how much suffering we endure, God is always to be praised, note these points: Job 1:21 (The Lord is the Giver of life.), Job 13:15 (God is to be trusted.), Job 35:10 (God is always with us.), Job 40:8 (We don’t condemn God to justify ourselves.). Job is just as relevant today as when it was written. Why? Because we are still suffering today. God’s Word has all the answers! Throughout his trials, Job asks questions and struggles to understand his plight. When he repents and acknowledges God, he is restored. Job 42:10 says, “And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” At the end of the book we see “Job lived one hundred and forty years and knew his children and grandchildren for four generations.” The book closes with, “So Job died old and full of days.”
Ultimately, we must remember that life is tough, full of wins & losses, but let’s never quit in life and focus on the reward of persistence, Heaven. I like to read the Texas A & M mantra in the title, but I want to hear these words from Matthew 25:23 more, “His lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” When you want to quit, remember why you started!
