Game three of the American League Championship Series between the Cleveland Guardians and the New York Yankees became an instant classic on Thursday evening.
With New York leading 5-3 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Guardians’ hopes were hanging squarely on the shoulders of pinch hitter Jhonkensy Noel.
Amazingly, Noel sent the stadium into a complete frenzy by launching a massive home run to left field to tie the game and give the Guardians new life.
Just one inning later, David Fry would play the role of hero, blasting a two-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the tenth to give Cleveland a much-needed win and tighten the series at 2-1 in favor of the Yankees.
Although the Guardians had been on the brink of falling behind 0-3 in the best-of-seven series, the team demonstrated tremendous grit and resolve in battling back for a crucial victory.
After the contest, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt commented, “That’s exactly who we are. We never quit. We get punched in the teeth pretty hard there in the eighth, and our guys stepped up huge for the guy that carried us all year long.”
For his part, Noel added, “We’re a team that don’t quit. We play 27 outs, so that’s kind of what happened today.”
Regardless of your particular rooting interests, all true sports fans are encouraged and inspired by seeing teams and athletes continue to persevere and fight with tremendous effort even when things have not been going their way.
As followers of Jesus, we all have seasons when things have not been going as we would have desired in our walk with God. Sometimes, we find ourselves struggling with the same sin for a while.
At other times, we may find that we have difficulty committing to reading the Bible, attending church, or dedicating time to prayer in a way that is both consistent and meaningful.
But as difficult as it can be to experience those feelings of falling short in our Christian walk, the one thing we can never afford to do is to lose our fight. We must be people who never quit.
Immediately after writing about people who have wandered away from the faith, the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:11-12 (ESV), “But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith.
“Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
Interestingly, it can be encouraging that Paul refers to the believer’s walk of faith as a “fight.” We live in a fallen world where temptations and distractions abound. Even worse, we live in that fallen world while battling with our flesh as we pursue God.
We will often say that we have not been doing the things we want to do, but we can never afford to lose our fight once we make that determination.
Hebrews 5:11 (NIV) says, “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.”
The audience to which the author of Hebrews was writing was struggling with certain aspects of the Christian doctrine. The author’s rebuke for the people was not so much for their lack of understanding but for the fact that they were no longer fighting to try to understand.
So, what might it look like to “fight the good fight” in our everyday lives?
Perhaps it might look like seeking diligently to understand a difficult passage of scripture rather than quickly moving ahead in our reading to avoid a challenge.
Maybe it would be refocusing our minds soon after we get distracted in prayer rather than allowing our minds to drift unchecked.
Or perhaps it could look like passionately resisting temptation by the power of the Spirit rather than simply allowing ourselves to cave in.
There are countless ways that this principle of continuing to fight can be applied to our lives, so I pray that the Holy Spirit would give us the clarity to understand in which areas we might need to demonstrate greater resolve and perseverance.
Today, let’s fight this fight of faith with all the strength the Lord graciously gives us to help us obediently endure.
I’m Matt Osborne, and you can UNPACK that!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please forgive me for the times when I have given into sin and distractions instead of doing what I know is right. Please help me to fight for holiness as I seek after You passionately. May it all be for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
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