What Baseball Taught me about Bible Study

Growing up in Florida, I was not an avid baseball fan. Until 1993, the closest professional baseball team was Atlanta. If people asked me who my favorite baseball team was I would have said the Atlanta Braves, but honestly I didn't know that much about them. I knew who their coach was, and I knew names like David Justice and John Smoltz; but honestly I very rarely watched a game and didn't understand very much about baseball. I tried over the years to get into baseball. I would occasionally flip over to a baseball game on television when there wasn't anything else on. I even occasionally went to a few games, mostly minor league, but it was never anything that I loved.

Then we moved to the Bay Area...
 

I had seen the movie Moneyball and enjoyed it. I also found the way the Oakland Athletics put together a competitive team with a small budget as fascinating. It's almost as if their team was the island of misfit toys from Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. So one night my wife and I decided to go to our first A's game. I really enjoyed it and became fascinated with the Oakland Athletics. But honestly, I still didn't know much about baseball.

 

So I began to study the game of baseball. I began to Google terms that I did not understand. Terms like "WHIP," "fielder's choice," and "4 seam fastball" just to name a few. I began studying the players, their histories, and the history of the team. I began to learn more about baseball. The more I learned of the game the more I love to the game. As a matter of fact, I can say very clearly that I am obsessed with the Oakland Athletics. This amazes friends of mine who knew that I grew up as a football guy. But I can't help it, I love baseball!

You may be wondering what any of this has to do with God. And no, I'm not going to say that God is an Oakland A's fan. But I am going to say that when we have a causal relationship with God, like I had a casual relationship with baseball, much of it has to do with the fact that we don't study God like we should. The more that we study God, and the more that we learn to know God, the more we will love God and become obsessed with God.

So, are you a casual observer of God? Or, or are you longing to know more about him? I promise you, the more you study about God the more you will fall in love with him. God does not need casual observers who occasionally flip over to him when there is nothing else on. Rather, he needs people who are obsessed with him.

I could say more about this, but the A's pregame show starts in 7 minutes.

-Glenn Newton

Glenn Newton has been serving as the preaching minister for the Pleasant View church of Christ in Pleasanton, California, since 2012. A 1997 graduate of Heritage Christian University, Glenn actively speaks at lectureships, workshops, and meetings throughout our country and has authored 6 books (5 of which are available through 21st Century Christian).