A Fresh Perspective

Even if you are not a baseball fan you may have heard about the blown call by umpire Jim Joyce during the 2010 season that prevented Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga from pitching a perfect game, which is an extremely rare occurrence. Any major league pitcher who pitches a perfect game cements a place in baseball history. With only one batter left to face, umpire Joyce called a runner safe at first, when in reality (as instant replay conclusively demonstrated) he was out by half a step. You can imagine the splash this made in sports media. What might be missed, however, is the story that occurred afterward. Galarraga couldn’t believe the call; he knew the batter was out. He knew the implications of what just took place. And yet, he was calm—no emotional outburst, no blame (he left that for the manager), just a smile and back to work to finish his job. Galarraga’s restraint from the perspective of professional sports was truly an exercise of grace. Then after the game when ump...

In this passage, Paul draws a contrast between those who "are being saved" and those who "are perishing." Our human tendency is to put ourselves in the group that is being saved as opposed to the group that is perishing. When we label and categorize we polarize people; it leads to “us” vs. “them.” So, instead of applying this to other persons or groups—this is the being saved group; this is the perishing group—what we need to do is apply this to ourselves. We make choices each day, choices that set us on a course of spiritual ruin or spiritual well-being. The choices I make today are choices that will contribute either to my spiritual collapse or my spiritual health. The decisions I make tomorrow will either nourish or impede a healthy spiritual life; they will nurture a “being saved” kind of life or they will contribute to a “spiritually perishing” kind of life. Salvation is more of a project, than a one-time event. It is more of a journey, than a single ...