Why God's Grace is Better than Baseball.

I’m a baseball fan. I’ve been a baseball fan off and on ever since I played my first game of coach-pitch in my cut-off shorts in 1981. And unfortunately, I’m a Texas Rangers fan. Yes, I’m a fan of the team that’s never won a second-round playoff series. One reason for our misfortune is the New York Yankees. No, the Yankees are not in that division, but if the Red Sox beat the Yankees for the division title, the Yankees are usually the wild card team for the first round.

And why are the Yankees so great? The answer is easy. Money. Yes, M-O-N-E-Y. Cold cash. Greenbacks. Smackers. Somolians. Buckaroos. Clams. And in a league where there are not many restrictions on capitol, the team that has deep enough pockets to pay for all the top players, is the team that has the most success. This is no secret in baseball circles and the Yankees make no bones about having the funds to create baseball's most productive, perennial powerhouse. And what happens is other teams become breeding grounds for future Yankees.

Two of the most talented current Yankees are both former Rangers. The Rangers drafted and groomed Alex Rodriguez and when he outgrew his Texas-sized salary, he got traded to the Yankees. First baseman Mark Teixiera was drafted by the Rangers in the 5th round of 2001. When he really started playing like the player the Rangers needed, he moved on up to wear the Yankee blue after a couple of short stints in Atlanta and Anaheim. So the perennial pattern is that the Rangers world-famous farm system will prove to be a ripe field for the Yankees and other teams with deep pockets.

Were money like grace, infinitely abundant, baseball and a lot of other things would be different. But thanks be to God that it’s not. God’s grace is not rationed out in an unequal manner so that some people get a lot, and others get less or none. God’s grace is abundant. In Romans 6:1-7, Paul writes that grace is directly proportional to sin. The more we sin, the more grace we receive. But he goes on to say that we should not keep sinning just so that grace will abound! Paul also writes in I Corinthians 12:9 that God’s grace is sufficient for us. This doesn’t mean life will be perfect. This doesn’t even mean that all of our earthly needs will be met. But the grace that Christ’s salvation offers is something that can not be taken away—not even by death!

So the next time you see someone and feel like they’ve just been blessed by God beyond measure, (or when you see your favorite baseball team get trashed again by the Yankee blue,) before you start getting envious, remember that God’s grace is infinitely abundant and his grace is sufficient for me and you.