Spring training baseballBaseball is back.

Spring training has begun and once again we can enjoy the sunshine, warm breezes, and fresh air while the “boys of summer” play their games.

Some people find baseball boring, while others love the strategy and the thrill of seeing a home run or an amazing play that robs the other team of a run. What’s really fun is watching the players give every ounce of effort to winning. And few things are more disappointing to a fan than the player who half-heartedly runs to catch a fly ball and misses.

In church this week, we sang, “I will love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind,” which is based on Deuteronomy 30:6 and several other verses. And I thought about how often other things in my life take priority. Do I love God with everything I have? Hardly. Just as I dislike it when a baseball player seems to be slacking off, how disappointed God must be at my inability to love and serve Him with all my heart, soul, and mind.

Thankfully, the next song reminded me that God’s “love never gives up on me.” Even when I fail, He still loves me. And that gives me renewed hope that, with His help, I can devote my whole heart and soul to loving and serving Him.

When I get my priorities out of order, He won’t give up on me. “The love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him (1 John 4:9, ESV).