Bottom of the Ninth #93 - Just Keep Believing
Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
A couple of weeks ago anyone who watched the NFC Championship Game was witness to one of the most improbable and incredible comebacks in league history. Yes, it was full of simple mistakes by the Green Bay Packers, but the sequencing of those mistakes and the subsequent execution by the Seattle Seahawks made me say repeatedly, “This is amazing. This is unbelievable.”
Just as amazing was the reaction of Russell Wilson, a devout follower of Jesus Christ. His emotional tank overflowed at the end of the game as he cried publicly during the postgame interview and team prayer. The common response from Wilson and his teammates was simply, “We just kept believing.”
As we started our new Baseball Chapel series last week, we walked through the disciples being sent on their mission by Jesus right before His ascension to heaven. Put yourself in that moment. Just like the disciples were likely doing, you’d be standing there staring into the sky, mouth agape, having no idea what to expect next. Two men in white (as explained in Acts 1), most likely angels, come and ask them why they are staring into the sky and promises Christ’s return in the same fashion. At that point, following Christ’s command to go and make disciples of all nations becomes their life’s purpose.
And they go. And they do incredible things for the Kingdom of God through the Holy Spirit. We know Christ today because of their work. But they weren’t loved in this world. We love them today in the church and are thankful for their work, but it’s important to remember that all but on of the disciples of Christ (John) are martyred, dying horrible deaths. They were crucified (Peter upside-down), beheaded, flayed alive, stabbed, thrown from the top of a temple, stoned, beaten with clubs, burned, and sawn in half.
How, in the face of this kind of persecution and opposition, did the disciples just “keep believing?” I have to think that walking with Jesus Christ, the one true and living God allowed them to do so. Did the Seahawks have a body of work to drawn on for their belief? Of course. That kind of belief doesn’t just happen overnight. For the disciples, it was their experiences walking with Christ that gave them the ability to just keep believing.
As we walk with Christ, it is important for us to continue to draw upon our previous experiences with Jesus to keep believing. Times will get tough - that is promised. But when we lean into the fact that God knows the plans that He has for us, that those plans are to prosper us and not harm us, we can look to the hope of the future with an eternal perspective.