I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens … Psalm 50:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 5, 2013): Psalm 50

“Moneyball” is the story of the 2002 Oakland A’s. It is the tale of Billy Beane, the General Manager of the baseball team and a valiant effort to create a winning baseball team on a small market team budget. The movie itself is a critique of what the writers call “the unfair sport.” It opens up a discussion on the concept of having a league where teams that have money spend it to be competitive, but these teams have to play against teams that just do not have that luxury. The result is that Major League Baseball has competition between teams that spend well over $100,000 in payroll playing against teams that are spending far less than $50,000. It also means that the small market teams have no way of keeping the players that they work to develop – they simply cannot afford that privilege.

For Billy Beane, that meant competing in a different way. The General Manager stumbles on an idea that most of the league is looking at baseball the wrong way. All that really matters in winning at baseball is the players ‘on base percentage,’ and since other teams are not looking for players with just a high ‘on base percentage,’ there were bargains to be had. But he also ran into a problem. His manager on the field did not agree with the way the General Manager was building the team. And as a result, he refused to play a number of the players that the General Manager was signing. And because the team was being built one way, but being played in another way, the team was losing. The obedience that the General Manager needed from the manager on the field in order to win was missing.

Surprisingly, the Bible comes with a very similar message. Our problem is often that we do not see the world the way that God does. Our reaction to the demands of God is often disbelief. I mean, can love really change our world? What does it really mean to love our enemies, and to pray for those who persecute us? And why does God need our sacrifices? The obvious answer is that he doesn’t – but he does need our obedience.

If we accept what the Bible is telling us, then maybe the world is created in a way that we just don’t understand. But we are being called to be the ‘on field managers’ responsible for putting the plans of God into practice. But if that is true, then, at least inside of the church, we need to start simply doing what our General Manager asking us to do, even if we do not understand. It is time we started to love, even our enemies and those that do not even like us. Because the General Manager tells us that that is the way that our world has been wired, and that love is the way that we will win in the end. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, so all that he needs from us is our obedience to his will.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 73