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The Sacrifice

Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Johnny Bench, Yogi Berra, Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Dizzy Dean and Eddie Collins. What do all of these men have in common? They all hold outstanding baseball records and are all members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. I’m sure you must be asking yourself, “Who is Eddie Collins?”

If you are female and live with or have ever lived with a male of any age, you know SOMETHING about baseball — outside of the fact that it’s this country’s national pastime! And if you know ANYTHING about baseball, you know about a sacrifice. A sacrifice is when the batter hits the ball in such a manner that he will be called “out” in order to advance the runner to the next base. The player has to sacrifice himself as an out to help the team score.

Eddie Collins was just such a person. He holds a record that has yet to be broken — 512 sacrifice hits. Eddie knew that even though he was an excellent batter, he could be more helpful to his team by sacrificing himself. He loved his teammates and the game of baseball so much that he took his eyes off himself and personal accomplishments and looked toward the goal — home plate and winning runs. He made the ultimate sacrifice — he sacrificed himself in the place of the runner.

Have you ever sacrificed yourself for the good of “the team?” Have you ever given up your personal goals in order to help someone else achieve theirs? Jesus did. He made the ultimate sacrifice. He died on a cross so that we could live. He forfeited his life for ours — he bore our sins so that we could have eternal life with our Heavenly Father. He gave Himself so that we could make it to home plate and score the winning run — heaven. You might think this is a stretch, a 7th inning stretch to be exact, but it’s not. God asks us to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to Him (Romans 12:1). We are also reminded to do good and share with others, for such sacrifices, God is pleased (Hebrews 13:16). The next time you watch a baseball game, think about the sacrifice play— Jesus dying on the cross in your place.

I'm just sayin',

--Margo

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Take me out to the ball game, take me out with the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don’t care if I never get back. Let me root, root, root for the home team, if they don’t win it’s a shame. For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out, at the old ball game.

Comments

Chris Barnette said…
John15:13 KJV “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” Your right Jesus gave us the ultimate example of sacrifice. Great analogy.

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