If You Have to Be First

Ty Cobb has been acclaimed as the best baseball player of all time. For twelve years he led both major leagues in batting. He was the undisputed champion base runner and held the record for stolen bases. He held more records than any other ball player.

On the diamond he was all business and he fought for every point. Off the field he was gentle and courteous, except for one thing. He had to be first. When someone questioned why he insisted on pushing in ahead of people he would say to them, "Don't you understand? I have to be first!"

It is the desire to be first that makes a winner in sports. Such a winner cannot let friendship, courtesy, religion, or anything else stand in his way. So long as we play the game and observe the rules the winner has a right to be first and not second. Even Paul states that he fought a good fight and ran the course.

Life, though, is not an athletic contest. There are some points where life is similar to a game, but not at all points. We do well, of course, to have the desire to win. But in life we do not insist on coming in first if it means running over someone else or forgetting that courtesy and common decency come first.

Jesus had a suggestion for those who would be first. Whoever would be first, he said, let him be your servant. This may not get you into baseball's Hall of Fame but you'll be in life's big league with Moses, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Disraeli, and others. Athletic records are made only to be broken. The record you make on God's scorebook stands for all time.

You know I like to win, O God, so help me to win by your rules.