For those of us living in the hearty Midwestern region of the United States, October is known for the turning of green tree leaves into explosively beautiful gold and orange shades which help usher in the cool crispness of serene sunny mornings and sultry twilights. The tenth month is also notable for its annual Halloween festivities that American children look forward to so that they can gorge themselves on sugary treats. October is known also for the multiple playoff series of the national pastime, baseball. As far as baseball is concerned, I have been and always will be a fan of the steeped-in-tradition Chicago White Sox, regardless of wins or losses. Unfortunately, even though they achieved immortality by winning a championship in 2005, those losses have outweighed their victories.
The White Sox are a part of the American League of Major League Baseball and this league differs from its rival league, the National (League) in many ways, but one of the most striking is the existence of the position of DH, or designated hitter. The other night, when most of my ideas for writing come, when I was pondering the magnificence of the Lord Jesus Christ I thought of the role of the designated hitter in baseball and how instrumental a position it is in the game.
For anyone truly born again through saving faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, one is almost paralyzed by astonishment at the glorious grandeur of God's redemptive plan and how, even more inconceivably, He made the entire salvation process completely, absolutely, flawlessly foolproof. And what I mean by that is that God, in His infinite grace and mercy originated and, of His own perfect will and matchless power, carried out that process with machine-like precision accounting for while simultaneously overruling human rebellion, incompetence, and impotence to bring all He foreknew before time began into His eternal Kingdom with Christ as sole potentate. What in the world does this blessed mystery have to do with such a mundane subject of baseball and its designated hitter, you might ask? The designated hitter does just what his name implies; the job of the DH is to just hit the ball but he does this in place of the pitcher. Now, while the pitcher's position is undeniably essential for any baseball team, pitchers are usually regarded as almost inept hitters and in a batting lineup of nine players, he almost always, 99.99% of the time, bats dead last. Pitchers must be in the batting lineup in the National League, by the way.
The designated hitter is the exact antithesis of the pitcher. The DH is almost always a bigger, more physically imposing player who often strikes fear in the hearts of opposing pitchers. Instead of batting last, the hitting ability of the DH affords him the privilege of batting at a more prominent position in the lineup. Consider our own ineptitude at living the holy, righteous life life God's Law demands. The glory of Christ is in the fact that He left that which was His by right- rulership over the entire universe- to condescend out of love to live that life in our place and to do it with excellent perfection. I honestly don't know why the example of the designated hitter came to mind that other night, but it did, and I'm simply sharing. Christ "bats" in our place, to do a job we are not skilled to do, so we stay in the dugout to just watch. In addition to that, when the DH gets a hit, a runner comes in for the DH to run the bases. I look at that like the Holy Spirit who empowers us to just as He empowered the ministry of Christ. The Scripture says in Luke 4:1, "Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit..."
The entire Christian life is guided, managed, controlled, ordered by God Himself and if one truly is honest, the Holy Spirit is literally living the life that is righteous as He resides within the believer. The Scripture shown at the beginning of this post attributes all credit to the rightful power in the redemption of man, which is in the blood of Jesus Christ. The saints of God are only able to overcome Satan, the flesh, and the world by the power of Christ's blood; His blood is the price for our justification in God's sight and for our sanctification as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We tremble because we know full well that God's merciful, mighty hand is on us and that the Creator of the cosmos has taken up residence within flawed, broken vessels!
Yes, the saints have a small part in the redemptive process and that that part is only in obedience. Ah-! Once again, I must relegate man to his proper place of powerlessness to even obey, for the Word is true that God's people look "unto Jesus, the author and finisher" of their faith (Heb 12:2). Surely, ordinary mortals could never overcome the looming threat of eternal separation from God in hell without the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus paid it all
all to Him I owe,
sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow...
-Elvina Hall, 1865
