Former Yankee catcher Yogi Berra is best known for his off-the-wall quotes.
“A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.” “I always thought a record would stand until it was broken.” “I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.” And one of my favorites: “Ninety percent of this game is half mental.”
The story is told that Berra was catching in a tied-game, two outs in the bottom of the ninth. The opposing team’s batter stepped into the batter’s box and proceeded to draw a cross on home plate. Berra, who was also Catholic, wiped out the plate with his glove and said, “Why don’t we let God just watch this game?”
When it comes to baseball (or football), that’s actually a pretty good theological statement. We may pray for safety or enjoyment, but I’m not sure that God gets too caught up in wins or losses.
When it comes to life, however, just letting God watch is horrible theology.
A deist is someone who believes in a creator; they just don’t believe he takes all that much interest in our affairs. He doesn’t intervene in anything. He watches and observes but he doesn’t act.
Most of us who are Christ-followers would say we don’t believe that. We believe God responds to our prayers. We believe God performs miracles. We believe he gets involved.
But do we act like it?
In reality, many of us believe in an active God and then live like he doesn’t do anything. We just let God watch.
How can you tell? Do you pray and then grow impatient? Are you comfortable waiting? Do you try every solution you can think of … and then pray? Do you act like everything depends on you?
I want a God who does more than just watch the game. In fact, I need a God who does more than just watch the game.
How about you?