It's All About Jesus

Last year I coached a baseball team of 13-year old boys. I've coached boys in baseball for many years now, but this year was different. Somewhere between the ages of 12 and 13, the boys had discovered girls, and the girls had obviously discovered them. Suddenly girls were interested in baseball. Suddenly girls loved to come to the park on afternoons when we had practices. And suddenly we had new issues. Boys were losing their focus. I was having to call boys to the field to start practices, at which time I often witnessed some horrible play as they tried to do something impressive for our new audience. Everything I and the other coaches had taught them seemed to have leaked out of their brains when the girls showed up.

We practiced at a park with 2 adjacent baseball fields and no outfield fences; the two fields just blended together in the outfield. As we were practicing one afternoon, four girls decided to hold their own 'practice' on the adjacent field. They showed up with a ball and bat and a couple of gloves, and started playing baseball. It was obvious they had never played before, which of course was not the point. They were also not wearing proper baseball attire, also not the point. I was hitting infield, and just as I started to hit a ball at my infield at a high rate of speed, I noticed from the corner of my eye that they were all facing away from me. I let the ball drop to the ground and looked up to see that the entire team had turned to watch the girls. They were all standing there, staring at the girls like zombies. I immediately called the whole team to home plate. Then I asked them to look once again at the other field. What do you see?" I asked.

"Girls."
Silence from me.
"Girls playing baseball."
A couple of boys laugh under their breath, but still no response from me.
"Do you know what I see?" I asked them. No response. "Distractions. What I see is distractions. Those are not girls over there on the field. Now what do you see over there?"
(Pause. They had to think about this one.)
"Distractions?"
"That's right. Distractions!" I said it loud enough that the girls could hear us. "We can't afford distractions. Now get your head in the game before I hit someone in the back of the head with a baseball!"

Practice went a lot better after that.

Ladies, please don't take my story as a personal affront. I have nothing against members of the opposite sex. I myself was distracted once by a girl named Elizabeth Franklin, and never have regretted it since. But baseball is also a woman--as anyone who has ever played the game knows--and she doesn't treat you well if your eye strays. These boys loved baseball, and I was watching them discard her like yesterday's news for any pretty girl who came along. Disaster was looming on the other side of distraction.
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For the month of March, we're going to be focusing exclusively on Jesus Christ in a series called "High Definition Jesus." One of the paradoxical qualities of Jesus is that he is simultaneously egoless and demanding of attention. This is captured for us by the Apostle Paul in the great hymn in Philippians 2: in verse 7 he "made himself nothing, taking the nature of a servant;" and in verses 10 and 11, every knee should bow at his name and every tongue confess that he is Lord. Jesus alone can rightfully demand our focus, our allegiance, and our love. This month our aim is to give what he rightfully deserves, and place our full attention on Him.

We are focused on many things, even many good things. But are we focused on Jesus himself? No matter how good, anything else in our lives can be a distraction from the most important thing. How much do we talk about Jesus, relative to other things? What do we think about? What do we pursue? Are we more intent on reaping the benefits of Christian living than knowing Christ, who is himself the greatest benefit of all? We want to be good spouses and parents, handle our money wisely, be people of integrity and influence in our community. We want to "be the best we can be" in so many ways, most of them good and noble. But none of these things are God's primary calling on our lives as individuals or on the church. It's all about Jesus. Everything else comes in a distant second.

I challenge you, beginning today, to reorient around Jesus himself. For the month of March, let your full attention be on Him. For the rest of this week I'll be blogging on Jesus as the first and the last and everything in between. Then, beginning Sunday (March 2) through Easter (March 23), we're challenging everyone to read a chapter from the Gospel of John each day, focusing on Jesus' life and ministry, death and resurrection.

Disaster is often on the other side of distraction, but life is in Jesus himself--not the church, not spiritual disciplines, not religious activity, family, friends, or anything else as much as Jesus. Begin a preoccupation with Jesus this month--the Easter season is a perfect time--and see where He takes you.