What matters more?

It was baseball season. My brother was playing on a 7th grade team that showed real athletic promise and the potential of a trophy at the end of the season. The coach was a young, lanky, athletic guy in his twenties--a likeable coach and a good strategist. There was an expectation that this summer would end with a championship, and we all were thrilled with the opportunity.

Shortly into the season, the coach decided to call for extra practices. Unfortunately, one of those was a Sunday practice that interfered with one of our church services. My brother went to the coach and explained that he would not be allowed to attend the Sunday practices because of church. Incredulous at this ridiculous decision, the coach scoffed, "Brian! What matters more?"

It was a good question.

The season finished as we all expected it would. There was an exciting championship game (and trophy), including a home run hit by one of the best athletes on the team--a boy who eventually went on to play in the Minor Leagues. We finished up with our end-of-summer picnic, and the boys moved forward with their lives and high school.

Not even a decade and a half after that legendary ball season, we were surprised to learn that my brother's young coach had succumbed to a vicious, deadly disease. Since we did not know him very well, I do not know if he ever found Christ as his Savior before he left this earth. We certainly hope so.

I honestly don't know where Brian's trophy is, and I'm sure the remarkable player who went on to play professionally has since retired from baseball.  Although our kids still visit that dusty ball diamond each summer to hit baseballs with their cousins, and I watch from the same tree-shaded bench where we cheered the boys on to victory, that legendary ball season of the late 1980’s is surely forgotten by all but the few who witnessed it.

Which really mattered more?

You and I are pulled in a million directions every day. We have families to care for, bills to pay, complicated relationships to sort through, and even our own need for rest in a hectic world. Every day, we are met with that taunting question, "Which matters more?"

When Mary of Bethany chose to set aside important responsibilities in order to listen at Jesus' feet, Jesus observed, "Mary hath chosen that good part." (Luke 10:42)

It really is true: Studying God's Word daily; attending Sunday school, church, and prayer meeting; and giving to the Lord's work will always cost you--financially, physically, maybe even emotionally. But something matters more than the life we are making down here. We must not flinch away from the sacrifice that is embedded in the obedient Christian life (Romans 12:1 - 2).