{"id":40831,"date":"2016-01-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/pro-baseball-star-explains-true-success\/"},"modified":"2016-01-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-25T00:00:00","slug":"pro-baseball-star-explains-true-success","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/pro-baseball-star-explains-true-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro Baseball Star Explains True Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an interview with Ben Zobrist, then Kansas City Royals left-fielder and one of Major League Baseball's most valuable players (retired from the Cubs in 2020), Collin Hansen commented, "You played well, you got promoted fairly quickly, but baseball is fundamentally a failure game." Zobrist responded:<\/p>\n\n

\n

It's funny, I listen to those interviews after people win the Super Bowl or World Series and stuff and sometimes I'm like, we're missing it. If we are believers and we're telling people, look you work hard and do it as unto the Lord he's going to bless you and you're going to be successful, that's not what this life is about. … I hear people use Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" as like their pump-up verse that's gonna allow them to do things on the field they've never done before … When you really look at that passage, the Apostle Paul is saying, "I can even do jail, and misery, and weakness through Christ who strengthens me." For me, I have to realize if that's the truth, when I fail I need to give God glory just as much as when I succeed. If through that people can see that my hope is not in my success or failure, it's in him, then so be it. Let that be for God's glory.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[409,411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3408,3931,4061,4092,4119,4203,4204,4677,4902,4903,5066,5067,5102,5145,5146,5201,5265],"tax_ctp_topics":[401],"class_list":["post-40831","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-ambition","tax_ctp_tags-failure","tax_ctp_tags-glorifying-god","tax_ctp_tags-gratitude","tax_ctp_tags-hardship","tax_ctp_tags-identity","tax_ctp_tags-identity-in-christ","tax_ctp_tags-praise","tax_ctp_tags-security-in-christ","tax_ctp_tags-security-in-god","tax_ctp_tags-sports","tax_ctp_tags-sportsmanship","tax_ctp_tags-success","tax_ctp_tags-thanks","tax_ctp_tags-thanksgiving","tax_ctp_tags-unanswered-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-weakness"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nPro Baseball Star Explains True Success - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/pro-baseball-star-explains-true-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pro Baseball Star Explains True Success - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In an interview with Ben Zobrist, then Kansas City Royals left-fielder and one of Major League Baseball's most valuable players (retired from the Cubs in 2020), Collin Hansen commented, "You played well, you got promoted fairly quickly, but baseball is fundamentally a failure game." 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