The Batter's Box

On March 2, 1874 organizers of the great game decided they needed a batter’s box around home plate for the hitters to stand inside. Evidently this was never an issue in English Cricket as the strike zone in baseball makes where one can stand more significant. So the commissioners and owners of America’s Pastime decided to gather and adopt a rule to put limits and constraints on a batter’s location. Why adopt a new rule? Why put an additional limit on the player’s freedoms? The answer: Because a good rule makes the game more fun, fair and enjoyable for everyone.

Have you ever noticed how good rules make the game more fun? It’s the same way with God’s rules and life in general. We often wonder why God gave us the Ten Commandments and “all those other rules.” However, if you read things carefully you notice they were given “so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess” (Deuteronomy 5: 33) In other words God dropped a batter’s box and some other rules into our game of life as good rules that make the game more fun, fair and enjoyable for everyone.

When Jesus came along in the New Testament he could sense people were beaten down by the rules. That’s the way I sometimes feel about all the rules in golf—who can remember them all? So Jesus commented on the rules of the Old Testament and said… Just in case you can’t remember them all just do this, “Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor” (Luke 10: 27) That’s the summary of how to have fun in life—whether playing the Great Game or working in the office.

God made the great rules for the game of life—follow them and life will be more fun, fair and enjoyable for everyone. Religion has come along and added an extra layer of rules that often suck the life and the fun right out of life. That’s why Jesus was so hard on the religious leaders—they were taking God’s great game and draining the life right out of it for everyone.

So today let’s consider the rules by which we are playing God’s great game. If we are following the ones he laid down as our commissioner then your life today should be fun, fair and enjoyable—and so will the lives of those around you.

Note: Two other events on this day deserve special mention: 1) In 1927 Babe Ruth became the highest paid player in baseball making $70,000 a year—more than the U.S. President. When asked about making more playing baseball than the president Ruth replied, “I should. I had a better year last year than he did!” and 2) Wilt Chamberlin scored 100 in an NBA game—a feat only matched by that Christian School in Texas that routed its opponent and saw the coach get fired over it.