Of all the major sports, baseball is my favorite. I have enjoyed following the Phillies for more than 23 years, and I’m sure some of you have been doing the same for even longer. Recently, though, we’ve been going through one of the most difficult times to be a Phillies fan. Not only have we lost a lot of games, but we have also lost some of the amazing athletes who took us to the World Series in 2008. I know it’s how pro-sports works nowadays, but it’s hard to lose familiar players. So far we have had to say goodbye to (among others) Jimmy Rollins, Jonathan Papelbon, Cole Hamels, and now Chase Utley!
Most of us have never met those players (or ever will), but we feel like we know them. They have been a lot of fun to watch. Now they are playing for teams that we root against. That’s hard. Uggh!
All of these changes in the Phillies’ roster reminded me of just how fragile human relationships are. Our relationships with baseball players are one thing, but our interactions with friends and relatives are often much harder.
It’s hard to think about, but the reality is that at some point all human relationships will fail or disappoint us. One day, everyone we know will either walk away, die, or somehow make our lives miserable. That is why any relationship with another person will never completely satisfy the deep longings that we have for comfort and security.
God understands.
That is one reason why the eternal God, Jesus, became a human and died. His suffering and death paid the punishment of our sins that we deserve. Because of what He did for us, we can have an unending relationship with an unchanging God. I know that sounds impossible, but it’s true.
When a person starts hating his or her own sin and trusting what Jesus did to take that sin away, he or she is set free from God’s judgment. Then, and only then, we can boldly ask, “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us” (Romans 8:33–34).
Jesus then becomes a close and intimate friend unlike any other. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35, 38–39).
Ball players come and go, and so will human relationships. A relationship with Christ, though, just keeps getting better and better. It never disappoints and it never ends. “The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:8).
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