Good morning. Baseball season is upon us. It happens around this date every year, although this year greed tried its best to end the season before it started, but that is another story. Spring training is over, and the real games have begun. Fans can look at the veterans of their team and hope for a good year. There is one group of people that may not feel so great about things. They are the minor league players who were good enough to be invited to Spring Training but aren’t good enough to make the final roster. You can tell these guys in the training games because the numbers on their uniforms are usually in the 90s. Those numbers say: you’re close, but not this year.
There are many people who feel this way about life. It seems like the good things they hope for are always fairly close but never quite in reach. They feel like outsiders, like the players who are always on the outside looking in.
Jesus wants us all to know that this idea is not functional for His Kingdom. In His Kingdom, there are no differences capable of holding anyone out. There are no reasons for anyone to be excluded. In fact, in the Kingdom of God, we are all-stars, each and every one of us.
God led the Apostle Paul to share this truth with us in his letter to the Galatians, the end of the 3rd chapter: for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. Galatians 3:26-29
In Christ we are all on the team, we all have our position to play, and our input is valuable to achieve the proper outcome. Everything that would divide us and keep us away is insignificant. We are to welcome one another with grace and joy. We are to value one another with wisdom and the commitment to being the best we can be…together.
God bless us as we serve, love, and encourage one another.
Vern