I went to a coaching clinic a few years ago, one that was designed to help beginner coaches learn a few basics about the game and how to teach it. “I’ve heard coaches tell kids for years to get that back elbow up,” explained the clinic instructor. “But that elbow has to come down on the swing, so there’s no reason to start with it up. Just have your kids start with it at their side.”
Not knowing any better, the coaches at the clinic soaked it up, largely because they had no idea why they had been taught to get their back elbow up years ago. Now, a solution! Just leave it down.
Here’s the problem: the best hitters in the world use that back elbow as a driving force to generate bat speed. You guessed it, right before they begin their swings, the back elbow is up.
Why, then, would anyone teach something different? It “seems” right. That’s it. No other reason. No real proof. No real study. Nothing other than frustration with for years has been unexplained and what “seems” unnecessary.
In this case, what seems right is relatively minor. Misusing the back elbow will only weaken your ability to hit the baseball with authority. Being misled there doesn’t have eternal consequences.
Your life, however, is a different story. How much of it is based on what “seems” right to you? How much of it is based on “following your heart” and hoping (or worse, assuming) things will just work out?
Proverbs 14:12–“There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
Far worse than the destruction of your swing is that of your life. Scripture is filled with examples of people who lived only for this world, only for their own desires, only to be destroyed in this life or the next.
God has revealed what is truly right. He reaveled it in the Scripture, a book that has proven to be historically reliable, archaeologically trustworthy, and life-changing for generations who have followed it. He revealed it further and ultimately in His Son Jesus, the living word of God.
You can trust yourself and your wisdom or you can trust Jesus and his. Don’t be misled by your own heart and what seems right to you. Your baseball swing might not have eternal consequences, but your choice about Jesus does.
Lord Jesus, My greatest sin is worship of self. I trust myself, my wisdom, what seems right to me. Today, I repent. I place my faith in you, the Son of God. I submit all of me to you. Be Lord in my life. Amen
