In the 12th chapter of the Apostle Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians in the Bible, he compared the followers of Jesus to the parts of the human body. They are all different and function differently but all need each other and work together to achieve their purpose.
A baseball team is like that. Each of the players sees the game from a different perspective. A catcher sees the game sitting close behind the batter while an outfielder sees the batter from a great distance. A catcher has to be very good at catching fast balls thrown from short distances while an outfielder needs to run fast to catch balls falling from great heights. All baseball team members thus have different views and different abilities, but they all need each other to achieve their purpose.
Can you imagine a catcher in baseball that felt that he didn’t need the coach or the rest of the team? That is what sin is in the Christian religion.The existence of the Ten Commandments is an indication that humans were intended to function like a team because it implies that they are each going to see things differently, but are going to need to depend upon each other and work together to achieve their purpose. That understanding is even more evident in the two commandments advocated by Jesus when he said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.” Not only are humans expected to work together and depend on each other, but they are also expected to maintain a functional relationship with God, the source of their existence.
Robert C. Frank
Author of Christ's Team
