“For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” – Romans 6:14(NIV)
If life were a baseball game and we were the pitcher on the mound, then sin could be called the hitters and base runners. In Romans 6:1-14, Paul gives us good reason why we that believe are no longer slaves to the sin in our lives. In my silly mind, I see what Paul is saying like this: “Avoid the Big Inning”. Stick with me, I have a point.
No hitters and perfect games in baseball are extremely rare. In the analogy above, they are simply impossible. Thanks to Adam, we are going to face sin in our lives. Although base hits, walks and errors can load up the bases, we cannot get distracted. Let’s look at a quick example.
Top of the inning (doing great), helped a neighbor (pop up, one out), a quick lie (single), someone cuts me off on the way to work (single), bad thoughts (hit batter). Like a pitching coach, Paul quickly jumps out of the dugout and runs to the mound. He has one point in mind…to calm us down.
“Look kid, base hits are going to happen. I know you strive for perfection out here and I expect nothing less. But remember, there was only one perfect pitcher and thanks to him, we can still go to the hall of fame even though we are not! Now, you got the cleanup hitter at the plate and the bases loaded. Are you going to let those guys on base, that you cannot change, take your focus off of the one that is going to do the REAL damage here? Or are you going to accept that the hits happened; they are forgiven and get back to being the ace we know you can be? Let’s get a ground ball, turn two and get out of this thing. Let your team pick you up. Don’t let the runners (sin) on base turn into something far more damaging.”
Strive for perfection, be the ace, and don’t allow the sin which will occur in our lives to take us off of the goal of being like Christ. The only pitcher that has ever thrown “the perfect game”.
AARON CONRAD 