A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit.” Proverbs29:23 (KJV)
I love baseball. I’m sure it’s because I grew up watching the game in minor-league ballparks as a child and also because my dad would tell me stories about old-time players. He saw Hall of Famer Ted Williams play and even saw Hall-of-Fame knuckleball reliever Hoyt Wilhelm play in the minor leagues.
One thing that always amazes about the game is how a player can rebound after a setback. Someone who comes to mind when thinking about this is Brad Lidge, the Philadelphia Phillies closer who didn’t blow a save in 48 chances in 2008.
Obviously, when you’re perfect, there aren’t setbacks. But there was a season of Lidge’s life when he struggled. He had a bad postseason in 2005, then struggled through 2006 and 2007 before being released by the Houston Astros.
Lidge said something, though, that stood out to me and made me know how he was able to get out of that funk. He said he realized who he was as a baseball player, wasn’t who He was in Christ. Like Lidge, we need to humble ourselves and separate our earthly failures from how Christ sees us. If it’s sin, we need to ask forgiveness. If it’s a failure in business or marriage or something else, we need to ask God to help us see ourselves through the eyes of Christ.
Through humbleness and realizing we can’t do it on our own, we can experience success.
This devotional is taken from our most recent Training Table devotional book in our latest print magazine. Log in here to access our most recent Training Table. Subscribe here to receive 12 issues a year and a daily sports-related devotional.