Many people think that what’s written in the Bible has mostly to do with getting people into heaven – getting right with God, saving their eternal souls. It does have to do with that, of course, but not mostly. It is equally concerned with living on this earth – living well, living in robust sanity. In our Scriptures, heaven is not the primary concern, to which earth is a tagalong afterthought. “On earth as it is in heaven” is Jesus’ prayer. – Eugene Peterson
I used to coach baseball. There was nothing worse than having a player with loads of talent who either did not know or recognize his talents or worse, did not care. I look back and think about several players who possessed gifts and abilities most boys only dreamed about. A few of them figured it out. Others maintained an air of indifference to which I could only yell, “Wake Up!” in as many ways as I could creatively imagine.
One time I outdid myself with my attempt to motivate a player. Another coach laughed at me in the moment and kept laughing at the story for as long as we coached together.
Jared played third base and hit in a power spot in the lineup. We depended on him to play solid defense, drive in runs at the plate, and pitch when needed. Jared probably accessed 75% of his talent. The other 25% lay hidden somewhere underneath his ball cap filled with curly hair and the perplexing maze of the teenage psyche.
When I looked into Jared’s eyes, I wondered what realm he currently inhabited. If I looked long enough, I felt I too might drift off to Neverland and miss the baseball game in front of me.
I exhausted ways to engage and motivate Jared. On one occasion, I had watched him trot out to his position at third base. To a baseball coach, a trot is about the same as sleep walking. I called him back to try again. “Jared, I want you to run out to your position again, but this time, pretend a wild wolf pack is chasing you. Your life depends on how fast you sprint.”
Jared ran to third, and I turned to my assistant coach for moral support. Instead I saw a smile from ear to ear and the sounds of restrained laughter. Finally it spilled out: “A wolf pack?” he laughed.
We play life like Jared played baseball. We get by at 35% or 50%. We are half-hearted sleep-walking creatures who do not know who we are or the depths of glory we possess inside of us. We’ve lost the desire to live fully, or we mask the desire with socially acceptable ways to cope.
All the while, we lose vision for what it means to be fully human. We fail to comprehend our full God-given potential, and therefore miss out on a “robust sanity” that can change the world. What transformation in our families and cities might occur if we spent just as much energy getting heaven into people as people into heaven?
Your life here matters.
