I haven’t really followed baseball since I was playing Little League, but the drama of Armando Galarraga’s almost-perfect game this week caught my attention again. What a great reminder of how elusive perfection is.
Is there any other game besides baseball that throws a running tally of its players’ errors on the Jumbotron for everyone to see and remember? And this week we were reminded that even the imperfections of the umpires are part of the game. With no instant replay to consult, officials’ mistakes are permanently etched into history. They can’t be undone – even the commissioner can’t erase them.
Paul says that what’s true in baseball is true in life:
None is righteous, no, not one (Rom. 3:10)
Which is why it’s so astounding that God chooses to save imperfect people like Jim Joyce, Armando Galarraga, and us:
God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 1:28-31)