Last night, our boys had a baseball game. Our team only had eight players and the other had ten players. From the beginning, we knew it would be a tiring game. The boys had to make up for the additional two that we did not have. The last inning came and our team was down four to nothing. Our boys were determined so they got up and drew some walks, got a few hits, and played small ball the last inning. One run, then another, then two more, and finally one last run to come from behind in the bottom of the inning to win the game. What a great game. No extra innings.
Then, we came home to see that the Braves game lasted 13 innings. They could not win the game in nine so it took them 13 to get the job done. If you are like me, and not coaching, you love extra innings because it is free baseball! You get to watch your favorite team play more than just the nine innings that you thought you were paying for. Sometimes games are so good that we don’t want them to end any time soon. We just wished they would keep playing.
Sunday mornings don’t always work the same way. When we head to worship, we go in and fellowship for a few minutes, sit down in the pew and begin to worship. Then, after a small amount of time people start checking their watches. They start getting unsettled and ready for the preacher to wrap it up.
But what if the preacher goes into extra innings?
If the preacher preaches past the traditional time of their sermon, do we get excited like we do when our favorite baseball team goes into extra innings? I don’t think we do. I’m not saying that we never get excited; it is just not the norm.
We should want to keep hearing God’s word. We should have the desire for our preacher to keep on preaching. There are times that Paul preached well into the night, for hours and hours. If that was to happen today, people would get up and leave and there may not be but a couple of people there at the end. We are all guilty at times.
Let’s work on being more motivated to hear God’s word. There are gospel meetings located all over the country. Let’s try to shift our focus from worldly things and focus them on Christ. If you are able to attend a gospel meeting, take time to do it. The more we hear God’s Word, the more motived we will be to spread his word. And on Sunday, if your preacher goes into ‘extra innings’, don’t show regret. Work on being excited to hear more about our God.
God is Good…
30 Second Thoughts 