Have you ever been watching a really serious baseball game? Like I mean state championship your senior year or the last game of the world series. The suspense has built all season long and literally anything can happen. I remember a specific game that was so close we had no clue how it was going to end. I hoped in my heart that nothing crazy would happen at the last minute so that we would win. We were ahead by only one and it was the other team's bat...the last bat. My heart was beating a million miles an hour! I was so nervous I couldn't even cheer anymore. I felt like I was going to explode! They got a run at the last minute and we went into extra innings. This made me even crazier! Was it ever going to end?? It finally did. With my team ahead by two. We had finally won the game!
Baseball is one of those games where it can change at any moment. The right person catches the right ball or hits a home run with three people on base and the outcome of the night can change drastically. We’ve named these super close situations “game changers” because it literally can change the entire game.
Your team could be winning by two but BOOM! The other team has hit a grand slam and they’ve just scored four runs in the final round of the ninth inning. It does not matter if your team dominated the entire game. That one moment was a *game changer*. You are sitting in the stands with your heart pumping, your mind racing, your palms sweating, and your poor fingernails bit down to grimy little stubs. You literally never know how it is going to end.
This is true for most sports. The universal nervousness that comes along with any competitive activity pops up in every sport. I love watching sports, but I hate that feeling of possibly losing at the last moment. I could go without that heart-sinking feeling for the rest of my life and not miss it. Well, not enough to actually give up watching a good ballgame, but the statement still stands. Now let me get to the point.
But what if someone tells you ahead of the game, “Hey it’s cool. I know what’s going to happen. I KNOW we are going to win.” They do not say it out of cockiness or confidence in the team, they say it as if it is a fact. Now if we were still talking about baseball that would sound so sketchy. The only way that could happen is if the coach paid off an umpire or something and that is not cool.
I’m talking about a different subject: eternity. So many people see the world as a constant battle between God and Satan. They imagine this great war that will happen and they act as if the outcome is uncertain. Whoa, are they wrong!
Spoiler alert, God already won.
He defeated Satan, conquered death, and provided a way for His children to come home to Him at the end of the day if they’ve accepted Him. We are playing a ballgame that God has already won for us. It does not matter how many runs the other team gets, there is not a number on our scoreboard. God is infinite and so is His kingdom. Satan will try to knock you down every single day of your life that you try to make a difference. He will discourage you and pain you but the truth is it is because he is bitter that he lost.
The point of all this is to say that we never have to feel that feeling of uncertainty where your palms get sweaty and you do not know what is going to happen. The truth is that God is the game changer. His grand slam happened before we even entered the game and there is not a force in the world that can compete with that. If you are on His team, there should be no question of who is going to win. Because He already did.
