Let's Play Two

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire.  (Luke 24:32)

“Your boss is taking advantage of you.”

“What?  I’m just walking his dog.”

“Yeah.  That’s not part of your job.  You’re a radio station manager, not a dog walker.”

“Okay, well, call it my senior citizen ministry.  I’m helping the old guy out.”

“Call it what you want.  You’re being taken advantage of.”

“No. What I’m doing is loving my neighbor.  If someone shows you how you can love them, and you can easily do it, just do it.”

“But doing personal favors is not your business.”

“Mankind is my business!”

Okay, so now I’m quoting Marley talking to Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, but mankind is our business.  

Jesus said something oh so powerful in the Sermon on Mount.  In Matthew 5:41 He said, “…whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.”

This is where we get that phrase, “Go the extra mile.”

How it worked back then was, a Roman soldier could legally tell you to carry his gear for a mile.  So Jesus said, “If that soldier makes you carry his gear for one mile, go ahead and carry it for two miles.”

Now that’s next level Christianity!

Serving others should come as naturally to a Christian as playing ball does for a ballplayer.

I’m thinking of Ernie Banks, the hall of fame baseball player for the Chicago Cubs.  In fact his nickname was Mr. Cub.  He also had another nickname, “Mr. Sunshine” because of his positive attitude.

Ernie Banks had a popular catchphrase he was known for.  He would say, “It’s a beautiful day for a ballgame…let’s play two!”

Now I imagine a lot of ballplayers probably hate doubleheaders.  It’s twice the work in the same day.  But Ernie, with his go-the-extra-mile positive attitude was like, “Let’s play two!”

Imagine Ernie back in Bible days.  A Roman solder barks at him, “Carry my gear for a mile,” and Ernie cheerfully responds, “Let’s go two!”

I know it seems to go against our rights, and a law like that wouldn’t fly for a hot minute in America today, but listen for a second.

Sometimes clinging so tightly to our rights is actually a burden that keeps us from freely loving and serving others.  

So watch for it.  Suddenly an opportunity to serve someone will appear.  The door will open, and what will we do?  We can ignore it.  We can go ahead and serve them but with a bad attitude.

Or we can cheerfully, with the joy of the Lord as our strength, choose to go the extra mile and say, “Why stop at one?  Let’s go two!”

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.