Cheering For the Home Team!

With the New York Mets having made it into the World Series, most of here in this New York/New Jersey area have baseball on our mind, me included. Although not all of us are diehard Mets fans, we’re excited about having one of our home teams make it this far. In fact, we are hoping to see them win the whole Series.  After all, we love cheering for our home team!  

It makes me think of the old baseball song that we love to sing during the seventh inning stretch: “Take me out to the ball game. Take me out with the crowd…let me root, root, root for the home team….”  The song conjures up images of a stadium filled with people cheering on their team.  Whether it’s their local professional team or their kid’s little league team, the crowd is standing and cheering and rooting for their home team.  And, it is often the cheering of the crowd that fills that team with the energy and confidence they need to keep on playing, even when they find themselves down in the score, facing a strong opponent.  It can be the cheering of the crowd that causes that team to turn around a game or even pull out a miracle win.  One can never underestimate the power of a crowd cheering for their home team!

In the book of Hebrews we read these words, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us….” (Hebrews 12:1 – NIV)  It’s a picture of a stadium filled with people cheering on those who yet running the race—we might say, playing the game.  They are the saints of old who have lived a life of faith and have since received their reward. Now they are in that heavenly stadium cheering us on, encouraging us to keep on going—to keep on playing even when the opponent may be strong or the score may not be in our favor.  It’s a heavenly crowd cheering on their home team. And, we who are currently living our lives as people of faith, we are that home team! 

You may be struggling today in some way, even feeling a bit discouraged. You may be tired, feeling as if you are currently behind in the score. The temptation to give up on your faith may be great. But, be encouraged today.  Keep on running the race of faith. Stay in the game. You’ve got a stadium of people cheering you on!  After all, you’re on their home team! 

Have a great day!

Pastor Tim Harris