Whether you are a sports fan or not, you have probably heard the advice, “Keep your eye on the ball.” As a sports enthusiast, dad-coach, and occasional player, in sports, this is incredible advice. Baseball, softball, football, basketball, and soccer – you will hear the same advice with little nuances of differences.
Consider my son and soccer… As I help him learn soccer, I want him and his teammates to keep their eye on the ball – especially when they are playing as defensive players with the ball on the opposite end of the field. For him and his friends, it is easy to get distracted. When the ball seems so far away on a full-sized field, something as small as a butterfly can distract him and them. Actually a blade of grass may do the trick. When I coach down on that end of the field, I am always trying to help them remember, “Keep your eye on the ball!”
I have had the privilege of coaching football more than any other sport. The advice is crucial there as well. Offensively, as an athlete catches the ball, it is necessary to keep your eye on the ball all the way to a completed catch. Many balls are dropped as the offensive player loses focus and his eyes shift. Similarly for defense, it is crucial to watch the ball. Anyone close to the line must focus on the ball at the snap rather than just listen to the opposing quarterback’s voice. Often you hear football coaches and other teammates reminding each other, “Watch the ball!” Many first downs are earned by opposing teams because of five-yard defensive penalties when a defensive player is drawn offsides. Why? Because he simply listened and did not watch the ball.
Watching the Ball Relates to Focus
Regardless of the sport, watching the ball relates to focus. The better a player learns to watch the ball, the better that player will be. Let me make a spiritual application to this principle. The more one focuses on the goal (here, the ball), the better that person will do.
Consider Jesus.
As I have read several days of Advent reading in the Gospel of Luke, I am once again reminded how often the Pharisees, scribes, and others sought to trip Jesus up, trap him, and otherwise test him. In addition to these religious leaders, Jesus also went through temptation where it was the devil himself seeking to make Jesus sin.
But in every case, Jesus kept His eye on the ball. Jesus never allowed the distractions around him to influence Him to lose focus on His goal. His goal? To live a holy, God-honoring life, completely satisfy the law, die sacrificially as a substitutionary atonement, lovingly provide a way for forgiveness of sins for all mankind, and help us receive spiritual adoption as God’s children.
In every instance Jesus kept the goal in mind. He did not allow hard and difficult circumstances, suffering and sinful people, nor His own personal desires influence Him away from His goal. While in the midst of the greatest suffering the night before His crucifixion, Jesus maintained His desire to honor the Father and do His will.
What about you? How does this relate?
Keeping your eye on the ball helps you in similar ways to Jesus. Thankfully, you and I are not called to die sacrificially as a substitutionary atonement! However, as forgiven children of God who have experienced the love of Christ, we are to live a holy, God-honoring life seeking to do the Father’s will.
Yet distractions loom everywhere.
Maybe like my son and his teammates, the “butterflies” and “colors of the grass” and whatever it is in the moment distract you as well. Hard and difficult circumstances, suffering and sinful people, and your own personal desires tend to trap, ensnare, and influence your own personal loss of focus.
How then do you do better and get better?
Just as in sports, you practice. You must understand, comprehend, make application, and practice over and over.
Bible reading and listening to good preaching helps you understand.
Bible meditation, prayer, and reading theological literature helps you comprehend.
Participating in life groups, spiritual conversations, and personal reflection helps you make application.
Plus lots and lots and lots of practice.
What else?
Personal reflection. When you do well, you reflect on what in God’s grace helped you do it right. When you fail, you reflect on what you did wrong and make a plan to do better the next time by God’s grace and in the Spirit’s power.
Listen to your coaches. Accountability partners, your pastors, elders, and teachers, your friends, and good theological literature help coach you along the way.
Friends, at the end of the day, my prayer for you and me both is that we, like Jesus, do a better job of keeping our eye on the ball. In the process, may we get better and God be honored.
Image Credit (football) Dave Adamson
Image Credit (soccer) Tevarak Phanduang
KevinCarson.com | Wisdom for Life in Christ Together
