Keep your eye on the ball

2 corinthians 10:17 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
2 corinthians 11:10 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.
Galatians 6:14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.


My three year old, Eli, loves to hit. Well, he loves to hit until he gets frustrated. His whiffs ususlly occur as he gets distracted and stops watching the ball. Like many fathers before me, I repeat over and over, as I hold the ball up in front of me, "Eli watch the ball until it hits your bat". There are always mixed results, and he even gets lucky once in a while when he is just spinning around without ever looking at the ball and makes contact. Most of the time though, he ends up disgusted and just beats his bat on the ground saying "I can't do it".

In a way, I believe that is a perfect resemblance of the Church in America. We have taken our eyes of the ball, Jesus, and have been distracted by the work of the church itself. Our focus should be Christ. Our boasts should be Christ. We should be held captive by the awesome love of Christ. That is the total expression of Paul's heart, work and words.

Be honest and examine your actions, my actions, other christians actions and what is going on at your church. We invite people to church, brag about our pastor, even recommend the latest and greatest book that have edified our walk. When is the last time you bragged about Jesus to some one? When is the last time that someone left all of the church talk behind and edified you with praise, adoration and the Words of Christ alone? If someone were to walk in to your house, your small group or your church service would they immediately feel a humble, overwhelming passion for Christ or would they view a group trying to figure out how to use God to make their lives better? These are critical questions. How do expect anyone to ever uninhibitedly praise and worship Christ if they never see it? Have you seen it? Is He your boast?

We can look at the effect of the church in America and see that it is not having the same effect of what was happening in the book of Acts. Why? We have taken our eyes off of Jesus and put it on the things of the church instead, and much like Eli our experiences leave us unfulfilled saying " I can not do it", as we symbolically beat our bats to the ground with the spiritual maturity of a three year old. We are frustrated bacause we don't like the same music as others, others don't agree with our views of debt, or share the same missional world view. We become defensive and accusatory over how we should do church. All of this flies in the face of Christ's love. There is great need for you and I to focus on Christ, and Christ alone. There is a huge need for His word to be held in authority over us as we are sinful and evil Humans. If these needs are not met, our eye is off the ball, and we will be much like Eli, flailing in our own strength, spinning around and only "succesfully" sensing God occasionally.


Here are a couple of thoughts that God is working in to me:
> I need to have increased prayer time where I do nothing but praise Jesus (especially when I sense emptyness)
> I must engage people with Jesus alone, in the context of their life
> I must have a pastor and friends that apply the Word to my Soul constantly
> The Sabbath, Lord's Supper and fasting are great opportunities for heightened awareness of Christ, and my need for Him. I need to more intentionally apply them.
> I need to be constantly made aware of this fact : I need Him desperately.




He is my light my hope my strength my song