Hey everybody, and welcome back to the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! I’m your host BJ Sipe – I’m a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. In this podcast we take everyday, ordinary events and explore how they can teach us extraordinary, eternal truths. I’m so glad that you joined me for this episode. Now, let’s open up our minds, our hearts, and our Bible’s together.
Well, I have experienced about every single emotion there is to experience tonight. From anticipation, to excitement, to joy, to nervousness, to heartbreak – and all in that order too. If you know me well, you know that I am an avid Seattle Mariners fan, and for the first time in 21 years we actually have something to root for. We ended a playoff drought that has lasted for 2 decades this year, and found ourselves in a wildcard spot for the 2022 MLB playoffs. Our first round was against a heavy hitting Toronto Blue Jays team, who we swept after coming back from being down 8-1 in the second game. It was a wild ride! But our path to the World Series still seems lightyears away, because of a big huge looming obstacle we must overcome to get there – and that of course is the Houston Astros. Love them or hate them, there really isn’t much of an in-between for sports fans, what cannot be denied is that they have one of the best teams in baseball. Today was game one against them in Houston, and I knew going into it was going to be a dogfight. That is why I was so excited when we jumped out early 4-0 in the ballgame. We were in complete control of the game for about 8 innings, but slowly the Astros starting chipping away back at our lead. By the time we got to the bottom of the 9th, there were 2 men on and 2 men out. We needed just one more out to win game one on their turf. But the game wasn’t over yet, because with a man on first and second, the winning run was coming to the plate in the Astros best hitter – Alvarez, who was already 2-4 in the ballgame. Seawald was struggling, so we needed to make a pitching change – so who would we bring in? Kirby? Swanson maybe? As soon as I saw who it was, my heart sank…we were bringing in Robbie Ray. Ray has fallen greatly from his Cy Young winning season from last year, struggling a lot with the Mariners after we acquired him in the offseason. The team he has struggled with the most? You guessed it – the Astros. So here we were. 2 outs, Alvarez comes up to the plate…and two pitches in, the most gut-wrenching thing happened for us Mariners fans. Well…just listen for yourself (audio file uploaded on the podcast). Crushed. I couldn’t believe it – we had that game in the bag…and just threw it away with a fastball down the middle after bringing in the worst possible pitcher we could have against their best hitter. Houston walks it off for game one. Naturally, I’m getting all the flak from my friends who are big Astro fans – I’m looking at you Nathan Cox & David Banning (but real talk, David I’m so glad you got to be at that game – what an experience for you). So while I sulk tonight in wondering what could have been, the real question is this: how will the Mariners respond in game two? They failed tonight – they gave up 2 run & 3 run home runs in back-to-back innings to lose the game. It’s done, it’s over. There is nothing they can do to change the outcome of game one. But you know what they can do? They can do better in game two. They can learn from their mistakes, get back up, and step back up to the plate ready to compete on Thursday. Sitting and sulking will do the team no good. Letting tonight’s loss define them will only ensure their eventual elimination. Yes, they fell hard tonight…but the series is not over yet. In order for them to stay and compete, there is nothing more important for them to do right than how they respond to tonight’s loss.
While David and Nathan might not see eye to eye on baseball with Brady or myself, as Christians and preachers there is something that each of us can agree on that is much more important than baseball. What I am referring to is this: in our spiritual walk, one of the most important things to learn is how we respond to failure. We are human. As such, so long as we are here in the flesh, we will battle against sin. It is simply a part of living in a broken world – while we strive to be more like Jesus, the fact of the matter is that none of us can walk perfectly. We are going to fail. In fact, John would say in 1 John 1:10 that, “If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” Even the apostle Paul himself, the great evangelist to the gentiles, talks about his own struggles with sin in the flesh. He writes in Romans 7:22-24, “For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Of course, this is not to excuse our failures and sins. Many people will simply shrug off great wrong they have done by saying, “I’m only human” – well, yes you are – but you are still going to be held accountable for your actions. Such a response is a great misunderstanding of God’s grace. To quote an old friend of mine, “Grace is God’s answer to our sin, not our excuse for it.” With that being said, here is the reality of our situation though. You are going to make mistakes, you are going to fail, and you are going to sin. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Paul would also write to the church in Rome. You can’t change that fact. You cannot go back and correct all of your mistakes of the past. What is done is done. The question is this: how will you respond to failure? Will you allow yourself to be defined by those mistakes, and just throw in the towel and say, “Well, I guess this is just who I am?” Sadly, I know so many people who view themselves in this way. Rather than get back up and fight the good fight, they just stay down & defeated. They continue in sin, because after all, “it’s just who I am” – “I’m just a bad husband,” or, “I’m just an alcoholic,” or, “I’m just a porn addict.” My friends, we cannot allow ourselves to think in this way. We must remember two things – first, while you cannot erase your sins…there is one who can. In the same context of wrangling with his sin, Paul would go on to say in Romans 7:25-8:4, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” You cannot change your past…but the grace of God can change your standing before God. He can erase your record of debt and your failings that were once held against you by his grace and declare you righteous. Your identity is not found in who you were & the mistakes you have made, but in who Jesus Christ can make you to be by his grace! Secondly, you’ve got to get back up and step back up to the plate. Again, Paul writes in the next few verses, “For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit. Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:5-6) Even though the righteous fall, the Proverb writer says they will get back up again. What is your mindset? If you let your sin define you and you simply give up, your mind is set on the flesh and it will certainly lead to your spiritual demise. But if your mind is set on things above, you’ll get back up and you’ll try again. His mercies are new day by day. Trust in his grace, get up and pursue Christ once more – because it’s not over till it’s over.
Thank you for tuning in for this week’s episode, and I would invite you back every Tuesday for a brand-new episode each week. If you haven’t already, be sure to find us on Facebook for occasional announcements and special video sessions. If you have benefited from this podcast, please if you’re able to be sure to share it with someone else that you think could benefit from it as well. Until next time, know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each & every day set our minds above.
