If you ever watch baseball, you’ll notice something odd every time long-time Astros player, Jose Altuve, gets up to bat. If he is batting in other teams’ stadiums, you’ll hear booing every single time he walks up to bat. This stems back to a choice he and others made years ago. Apparently, runners on 2nd base are allowed to “steal signs”, but the accusation is that some of the Astros used a center field camera to steal signs. This happened 7 years ago, yet many cannot let it go, and will forever consider Altuve a cheater. I’m not here to fight one way or another, though I’m still a huge Astros fan. However, I always watch in amazement each time Altuve gets up to bat and tunes out the boos. I can imagine they are super distracting, yet time and time again as the crowd boos, Altuve will hit yet another home run. For me, the booing actually makes his home runs that much sweeter. Altuve could spend his time sneering and yelling back at the crowds, he could hide away in the dugout, or he could take to social media to defend himself each day. Instead, he just ignores his critics, his past, the accusations, and all the hate, and he simply does what he is supposed to do; He keeps his eye on the ball, and he keeps swinging. If Altuve had let his critics get to him, he and his team would have missed out on over 1,152 hits in the past 7 years, including 165 home runs. Altuve is also on-track to be a Hall of Famer. Think of what he and his teammates would have missed out on if he had quit. The Astros have greatly benefitted from their teammate, and you just can’t help but like his attitude and fun demeanor.
Sadly, when I see Altuve up to bat, I often think of ministry workers like pastors, missionaries, and really anyone trying to serve Jesus with their lives. Even more sadly, I don’t see the booing crowd as “the world”, necessarily. I see the booing crowd as fellow “Christians”, and even church members. It’s one thing when the opposing team is booing you, but what are we to do when those on “our team” boo us? I could talk for hours about the negative booing that ministry workers constantly have to hear as they are trying their best to focus on their calling. Perhaps these people have also made mistakes in their past and have others who have made it their mission to remind them of their mistakes as often as they can. I think of so many people that I have known or heard of who have left their churches and even quit ministry altogether because the booing of fellow church members became too much to stand up against. I think of how many souls and lives they did not impact because they couldn’t go another day under the heavy weight of criticism. When “the world” seems friendlier than the church, there is a problem.
I read an article recently that seemed to hit the nail on the head. Pastor James Bell stated, ““One of the harshest realities of ministry is that people will gossip about you, slander you, and misrepresent you. It might come from people within the church, other pastors, or even people who don’t know you well. There will be times when you’re cast as the villain in someone’s story, and you won’t have a chance to defend yourself. That’s hard to accept, but you have to be okay with it. Your calling is not to win everyone’s approval, but to remain faithful to God, even when people misunderstand or misrepresent your heart.”
Where are the Aarons and Hurs in the church who will lift up the arms of Moses (Exodus 17)? Why is the church breeding more and more Shimeis (2 Samuel 16) who do nothing more than stand around heckling and casting stones?
As church members, our job, as we serve Jesus, is to hold up the arms of fellow ministry workers. They need our support! And as hard as it is, as ministry workers and servants of Jesus, our job is to get up to bat every day, to ignore the hecklers, and to keep swinging. Think of those who need to hear about Jesus. How will they hear if we quit?
We could spend our limited lives taking to social media, defending ourselves, yelling back at fellow booing “believers”, and yes, we could even quit. Who could blame us? OR we could let Jesus fight our battles while we simply do the next right thing and use every moment to keep our eyes fixed on Him. Dory’s mantra is “just keep swimming”, apparently Altuve’s mantra is “just keep swinging”, but ours should be “just keep serving”. There’s a job to be done, and until Jesus calls us home, let’s get to it (Phil. 1:6).
“The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” Exodus 14:14
“Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.” Psalm 35:1
“Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing: knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.” I Peter 3:9
“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:9
Just a Mom’s View 