Lessons From Wiffle Ball

LESSONS FROM WIFFLE BALL

(All my sermons use illustrations from sermon central and all scripture is NIV unless otherwise noted)

When I was a young child I loved to play wiffle ball. We would set up a small “ball park” in the back yard and pretend we were great base ball players. You can do things with a wiffle ball that you can not do with a regular base ball. The wiffle ball will curve better, you can catch it without a glove, it won’t break out windows (most of the time) and two people can have a fun game. When my boys were young I taught them to play wiffle ball, and this week as I pondered this sermon I see something that we as Christians can learn from the game of wiffle ball. Please indulge me and we can learn together from the word of God.

I. KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL

The first lesson always taught when it comes to hitting a ball is that we must focus on the ball, we must keep our eye on the ball. If you take your eye off the ball there is little to no chance that you will hit it. Our goal is to connect with the ball and we can not achieve our goal if we take our eye off the ball.

The same applies with our walk with Christ. Our focus must be on Jesus. We can not take our eyes off of Him. Heb 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The author of Hebrews is not the only one that understands the importance of keeping our focus on God, David knew as well. Ps 141:8 But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge--do not give me over to death.

What is it that keeps us from keeping our eyes on the Lord? Why do people lose their focus? Well let’s go back to wiffle ball for just a moment, why do we take our eye off the ball? It seems like a simple enough instruction, so why is it that we take our eye off the ball?

I think it is because we are distracted very easily, in wiffle ball we are looking for the home run, we are seeing where the ball is going to go before we even get to hit it. We look out into the field, imagining how far we will hit it, BUT we take our eyes off the ball and that is when we strike.

I think we do the same thing with Jesus! 2 Cor 11:3-4 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

Led away from where our focus should be! Keeping Christ first in our lives can be very difficult when we have so many distractions coming from so many different sources. The world is always telling us of short cuts, easier ways to lose weight, get rich and live longer, BUT the truth is that there is NO short cut.

Bob Harris, weatherman for NY TV station WPIX-TV and the nationally syndicated independent Network news, had to weather a public storm of his own making in 1979. Though he had studied math, physics and geology at three colleges, he left school without a degree but with a strong desire to be a media weatherman. He phoned WCBS-TV, introducing himself as a Ph.D. in geophysics from Columbia U. The phony degree got him in the door. After a two-month tryout, he was hired as an off-camera forecaster for WCBS. For the next decade his career flourished. He became widely known as "Dr. Bob." He was also hired by the New York Times as a consulting meteorologist. The same year both the Long Island Railroad and then Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn hired him. Forty years of age and living his childhood dream, he found himself in public disgrace and national humiliation when an anonymous letter prompted WCBS management to investigate his academic credentials. Both the station and the New York Times fired him. His story got attention across the land. He was on the Today Show, the Tomorrow Show, and in People Weekly, among others. He thought he’d lose his home and never work in the media again. Several days later the Long Island Railroad and Bowie Kuhn announced they would not fire him. Then WNEW-TV gave him a job. He admits it was a dreadful mistake on his part and doubtless played a role in his divorce. "I took a shortcut that turned out to be the long way around, and one day the bill came due. I will be sorry as long as I am alive."