Pre-Game Jitters
Theme of the Week: Peace Under Pressure
Scott McGregor
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
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Key Bible Verse: I have discarded everything else … so that I may have Christ (Philippians 3:8). Bonus Reading: Philippians 3:4-9a
In Philadelphia in 1983, the night before the final game of the World Series, I lay there tossing and turning, plunged into joy and excitement one minute, panic and tension the next. If I was going to get any sleep at all, I desperately needed a sense of peace for my jumbled emotions.
Four years earlier, I'd invited Jesus Christ into my life. So I reached for my Bible and turned to Philippians 3:4-9a, where the Apostle Paul recalls how he was born in the right place to the right family, got the right education, and did all the right things. Yet he'd discounted it all "that I may have Christ."
That verse could be talking about me! I realized. My World Series and All-Star successes wouldn't make a bit of difference when it came down to where I'd spend eternity. Only my relationship with Jesus would matter then. I was able to sleep peacefully after that, then went out on the mound the next day and pitched one of my best games ever. Our Baltimore Orioles won the series over Philly, and I was elated! But most exciting was to know that the peace within me wasn't dependent on winning, but on knowing that God loved me.
—Scott McGregor in Winning
My Response: I'll draw stability from my status and future in Christ.
Thought to Apply: Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown? Jesus we know, and He is on the throne. —EDWARD BICKERSTETH (English pastor and hymn writer)
Adapted from Winning (Regal, 1990) by permission.
Copyright © 2005 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.
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