Back, Back, Back, Back....GONE!

"But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24)

Anyone who has ever loved baseball is familiar with the sound of Chris Berman's voice calling out as a home run ball makes its way toward the bleachers - "Back, back, back, back...gone!" This week my grandson who is an avid baseball fan and player and wants so much to make a career of it called me to let me know with great pride that he had just hit his first "over the fence" homer in competitive baseball. For those of you who love the sport and want details, it was a drive over the left centerfield fence and carried over 300 feet. For a thirteen year old, that is quite a poke! In fact, he let me know that he was so intent on just watching the ball disappear that he almost failed to touch first as he rounded the bases!

The Apostle Paul in his final remarks to the elders of the church in Ephesus spoke of the importance of "rounding the bases" in his own life spiritually as a Christian. He stated first that he did not consider his own life - dreams and aspirations - to be anything that should stand in the way of what the Lord Jesus had given him to do. His one overriding purpose in life was to "finish" his course and to fully carry out the ministry to which he had been called of God. That ministry, of course, was simply to let the Gentile world know of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross and the gift of eternal life by God's grace through that sacrifice.

Each one of us who are Christians today is "standing at the plate" ourselves, beloved. This is our turn at bat and our focus needs to be on rounding the bases and making it home, accomplishing fully what we ourselves have been called by God to do. We need to make it our intention to cause our living to so attract people to Christ that those who know us will come to know Him as well because of us. To make this ministry happen, however, we are going to have to adopt Paul's own attitude toward our personal lives, not to consider what we want as so dear to us that we would allow anything to interfere with the fulfillment of our mission for the cause of Christ.

This same apostle who stated here so emphatically his desire to live completely for Jesus Christ would one day write to his young protege and declare as he looked back over his life that he had "fought the good fight," that he had "finished the course," that he had "kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7). Oh, that one day you and I will look back on our lives and be able to say the same thing as did Paul! Or to put it in this present baseball vernacular, to know that we have made full contact and that we are sailing homeward - "Back, back, back, back....gone!" May God bless you as you impact upon your world for the cause of Jesus Christ!

Ron