Who’s On First?

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

It only happened once in my short baseball “career.” While playing high School ball back in the 1960’s, I hit an inside-the-park home run! I knew I had at least a double when the ball went over the fielder’s head and hit the fence. But the ball took a strange bounce off the wall, and scooted away from the fielder. By the time he chased the ball down, I was rounding third base, and before they could relay the ball to the catcher, I had crossed home plate. More about that in a moment.

Some Christ followers never experience the fullness of God because they refuse to put Him first. The Scripture teaches that we must do that, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” [Matthew 6.33 - emphasis mine].

Relegating God to anything but first is foolishness. To seek His kingdom first, is to seek His authoritative rule in your life. To seek His righteousness first, is to live the way God requires His people to live — to follow the Book, God’s governing guidelines. We must do that first because without them we are meandering about without the rightful support of the King.

Now, back to my home run. The next batter was standing near home plate when the pitcher turned and threw the ball to the first baseman. The umpire raised his hand and yelled, “You’re OUT!” I was called out because I hadn’t touched first base.

Missing first base means nothing else matters. If you don’t touch first base, it doesn’t matter that you touch second base, third, or home plate. It didn’t matter that I got high-fives from every teammate and coach. It didn’t matter the number of screaming parents in the bleachers. I missed first base, and nothing after that mattered. 

I think there is a lesson to learn from my experience. If we fail to seek God first, all else is for naught. 

Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day. Psalm 25.5