Baseball was my first love. It’s an amazing game. It’s riddled with life lessons, challenges, and opportunities to rise up against adversity. No matter how good you are – you fail constantly. If you’re around the game long enough, there’s something you’ll notice happen with some semblance of frequency – the game’s not always fair.

You could execute a perfect pitch and the hitter throws his bat at the ball and hits a bloop single just over the outstretched glove of the second baseman. Or you could take a perfect swing and hit a scorching line-drive to left-center field that gets caught. In both scenarios, the “better” performer was not rewarded with a successful outcome. Life’s this way, is it not? 

There are two mental qualities that are essential for a baseball player to have a chance at longevity in the game: consistency and the ability to handle failure. A consistent mental approach of what we would call – trusting the process – is needed. This necessitates the ability to handle the inevitable failures that routinely come along the way.

Biblically speaking, there’s a similar charge to how we ought to live our lives. “Don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad – for these trials make you partners with Christ in His suffering” (1 Peter 4:12-13). Life happens – it’s part of it.

James says, “When troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow” (James 1:2-3). 

There’s something about trials and adversity that’s good for us. Many other religions talk about a blissful state outside of suffering. This simply isn’t the reality of life here on earth and the Bible is honest about it. It’s clear that life is hard. And many times unfair, but this is not a reason to reject our faith it’s the very reason for us to press in.

In baseball, you go through slumps and challenges. These times are revealing times. Do you trust your approach, your mechanics, your eyes? The temptation is to change everything and sometimes adjustments need to be made, often times you need just continue.

When life gets hard, two things happen: it reveals what we actually believe, and it gives us an opportunity to double-down and root ourselves even deeper in our belief. Suffering, unfairness, times that feel unjust, these are never easy times, but they’re essential as they function as a way of pulling back the curtain and showing ourselves where we’re currently rooted.

This is why James says, life’s going to be hard and it’s a good thing because it gives us an opportunity to grow and mature in our faith. So, I want to ask you: do you feel like you’re slumping or going through a trial? Don’t waste this time. There’s gold to be found here. Become aware of your response and where you feel like your belief system is being challenged. Remember, this is to be expected, life is not fair, but these trials aren’t pointless, they’re doing something – they’re producing deep roots.