In the past decade or so, baseball has been littered with the scandal of players whose careers and legacies are tarnished because of the use of performance enhancing drugs. What those drugs helped the players produce was exhilarating for everyone involved–home runs by the hundreds. And with the home runs came a financial windfall for those players like the game has never seen. Until several notable players were exposed as drug users, no one really cared. It’s been amazing to watch baseball fans move from excitement to shock to anger. More interesting has been the reaction of players who didn’t take performance enhancers. Where once they shrugged at the use of such drugs, they now want doping players eliminated from the game.
Most intriguing of all, however, is the study of those who actually took the drugs. Was it worth it? For those who signed multi-million dollar contracts, it can be argued that it was indeed worth it. Perhaps the money helps. But public opinion and the opinion of peers carries a large weight too. But, what I really want to know is what these users feel inside.
Some call it “making a mistake” or “using poor judgment.” Few, if any, express true remorse.
I’m reminded of the Scripture in Proverbs 5:12–“…And you say, ‘How I have hated instruction! And my heart spurned reproof! And I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to my instructors!'”
The context of this Proverb is the realm of sexual temptation and its consequences. The principle is that such things appear to offer so much, but turn out to be completely destructive in the long run. Just like what the drug using players are learning.
Player, coach, dad, there is nothing worth sacrificing your integrity and walk with God over. Nothing. Not money. Not fame. Not women. Not home runs. Not winning games. Nothing. Listen to the instruction from Scripture and from godly people around you.
Here’s a prayer:
Lord Jesus, you never sacrificed your integrity. Teach me to be like that. Put me around godly life instructors. Help me not to become enamored with things that look and feel good now but will eventually destroy me. Amen.
