By Gavin Boyle
Savannah Bananas left fielder Robert Anthony Cruz works hard, even though he doesn’t need anybody’s approval.
“So if God’s gonna love me anyways, why should I strive for excellence on the baseball field? I’ve thought this before. If I’m so content with the way God sees me, then why should I work hard? He’s gonna love me either way,” Cruz said. “See, I have found more motivation when I feel loved by God, it’s a completely different motivation. I am not trying to prove the haters wrong. I’m not trying to work hard to prove that I’m valuable. Instead, I work hard out of gratitude.”
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“My motivation now goes something like this, ‘God, thank you so much for giving me the ability to play baseball. Thank you for loving me regardless of how I perform.’ Now, as comes naturally to everyone, any son, I want to make my Father proud. I refuse to coast through life when I’ve been given such a beautiful gift. That is tremendously motivating,” Cruz continued.
“I know that I was designed with a purpose, so I’m going to work to the best of my ability, to work heartily unto the Lord and not unto man,” he emphasized. “I want to be excellent, not to earn love, but to reflect the one who is excellent, the giver of all things. Biblical excellence is not about earning love, but it is a response to it.”
Cruz’s explaination for hard work echoes what Paul writes in Romans 6. The Apostle explains that Christians should not go on sinning even though we know that all of our sins are covered by Christ and are not held against us.
“What shall we say than? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” Paul writes in Romans 6:1-2, adding in Romans 6:15, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!”
Christ calls believers to pursue Him and strive to live a life more holy and honoring to Him each day. While we understand we can never achieve perfection this side of heaven, it is clear that hard work is an important aspect of the Christian life.
We honor the Lord through hard work, whether it is at work, in school or through sports.
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