Father, it is hard to believe that we are already two months into the school year and that the holidays are so very near. I would pray for direction as Thanksgiving and Advent are just around the corner. May I put forth what Your heart desires. Amen.
Romans 3:21-26 (<<click here to read the passage)
Anybody that knows me, knows that I am not a sports enthusiast. I can watch games with those who enjoy them and know enough about them to know what’s going on, but I would pretty much never sit down and watch something – anything – sports related all by myself.
Regardless, there’s a lot that sports and athletics can teach us. The Apostle Paul was one to use athletic references in his writings (Philippians 2:16, Galatians 2:2, Galatians 5:7, 2 Timothy 4:7).
That being said, there is a quote that we are all pretty much familiar with that has its origins in the game of baseball. Frank Robinson was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball, from 1956 to 1976. He was the first to say, “Close don’t count in baseball. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” The quote appeared in Time magazine (July 31, 1973).
Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. You can fall short using those two items and still accomplish some of what you had intended.
To fall short of something means to be less than what you need, expected, or hoped for, or to fail to reach a satisfactory standard.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. v23
We are all – farmers, housewives, pastors, shoe salesmen, seminary professors, plumbers, schoolteachers, popes, doctors, baseball players, and anyone else you would care to add to that list – we are all sinners. And we all – every single one of us – fall short of God’s glorious standard.
There is nothing we can do about it. But verse 22 states,
We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. NLT
We are all sinners and we all fall short, but we all can be made right. Jesus Christ is the key.
God’s word can most definitely speak for itself.
Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. vs24-26 NLT
Thank You, Jesus!
Nov 1st, 2022, Tues, 4:50 pm
