Let’s play two…or three…or all weekend!!

It is amazing how God orchestrates the events of life to coordinate with what He is showing us in His word. Take this weekend for example. As I prepared to talk with our middle school students about Jesus’ Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), our oldest child’s team was opening up their baseball season in a tournament appropriately called the ‘Frozen Frenzy’. And as usual it seemed the Lord was making it very clear that the red print I was reading in scripture was spoken to me, and not just the group of young people I would be teaching.

Jesus’ parable is of a master that before leaving for a journey entrusts three of his own servants with his possessions. These possessions (or talents) were distributed according to each man’s ability. Two of these men immediately jumped at this fortuitous situation and invested their talents to gain more, while the other servant, paralyzed in fear, did nothing with his master’s money. When their master returned, the first two received praise for being good stewards of their gifts, while the other servant was harshly rebuked. As I studied this passage, it became clear that the focus of the story has less to do with the total interest gained but rather shows there is much more concern with the amount of faithfulness applied by each. The teaching begs us to evaluate our lives and ask the question: What exactly are we doing with the opportunities we’ve been given?

With this in mind, I started to notice all the potential there was surrounding this weekend spent at the ballpark. There were multiple occasions to be intentional and obedient to Christ. Each game presented its own ups and downs, little guys experiencing successes and failures. There were belted base hits and bewildering blunders. There were favorable close calls and strike zones that were mysterious to say the least… But that was only the on-field action! There were crazy parents in the stands (my wife and I may be included in this group at times), our younger children playing in the dirt and interacting with new friends, meals enjoyed at local restaurants where orders were inevitably messed up, teammates that stayed the night at our home… But how did we respond to each situation? What was the point of the weekend? Was it all about winning – securing a 10” tall trophy that will be boxed-up in the garage by this time next year? Surely all this time and effort and energy are being spent on something bigger than baseball. Please tell me there is more going on than that!

With every chance we have to be obedient and intentional, there is adequate room to be lazy and irresponsible. Admittedly my wife and I did not capitalize on each and every opportunity as we would have liked (see crazy parent reference above) but our eyes were opened to what these types of weekends could be. There is potential to help mold and shape these boys into young godly men of character and integrity. There are relational opportunities everywhere – chances to live out our faith in front of unbelievers, times to encourage fellow saints, multiple occasions to show grace and compassion, to reveal that these things are merely shadows of something far more glorious.

So often we look for opportunities “to serve” God and overlook what is right in front of us. Sometimes it is not a matter of finding our mission field as much as it is about opening our spiritual eyes to see that it is right before us. Oh that we might find deep value in living on task and making the most of the relationships and experiences we so regularly enjoy – to live intentionally in the things we’re already doing.

God has placed us here at this very place and time in history so that others might seek Him and discover that He is not far from them (Acts 17:26-27). So what opportunities has God entrusted with you? May we be found faithful and one day hear the words from our Master, “Well done, now enter into My joy!” (Matthew 25:21, 23).