I have always thought it takes the best athlete of all to play the game of baseball. It takes not only athletic ability, but mental prowess to play the game well. Then there’s the schedule, over 160 times per year they play the game. That takes stamina, lots of stamina. The strategy of the game has always held a strong fascination for me as well. There’s just a lot to the game of baseball.

But there’s a huge black cloud hanging over the game right now. Steroids. A dirty word. A word that speaks of cheating and cheaters. Players want the big contract, the big records, the big accolades and so what do they do? They cheat. It has done what may well be irreparable damage to the game. Players who have set records now have the records tarnished by the possibility they were taking performance-enhancing drugs—drugs like testosterone, salves and lotions constructed mainly with anabolic steroids, “pep” pills, human growth hormones, and other substances designed to give them an advantage. Now they hit the ball further, have (at least for a time) a greater degree of physical stamina, have a greater enthusiasm at game time, and can do things that without these enhancements, they could by no means otherwise accomplish.

The fact is, they cheat.

Now who knows who is and who isn’t. They’ve learned to hide the use of the drugs, to disguise them so that they are not easily detected, to use them in a way that keeps them under wraps. Now you don’t know if that home run record was real or if it was done by cheating. Or the base- stealing record, or the RBI title. Now you don’t know if the MVP award was earned legitimately or if it came by cheating.

It breaks my heart what’s happened to baseball. And do you know why its going on? Baseball not only wants good shortstops, they want good short-cuts, that’s why. They want an easier way to do it. They want something they can take that will preclude all the hard work it takes to build up the body legitimately. They want something that will stimulate them when the body is not ready to be stimulated. And they want money. More money. And more. They want a shortcut.

And so they cheat.

But baseball is just a game. It is called “America’s Favorite Pastime.” And it’s just that, a pastime. But cheating is serious business, even in a game. It says something about who and what we are. It speaks graphically to what has happened in our society, if we allow it. It says something about who and what we are and what we have become. Will we accept this as “just part of the game?” I certainly hope not.

But there are others areas where shortcuts are both desired and used.

Religion has always had those who wanted shortcuts. Take Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10), for instance. They apparently didn’t want to do it God’s way, and so they took an easier one—a shortcut, if you please. Then there’s King Saul. He couldn’t wait for God’s way to unfold, so he took a shortcut, taking matters into his own hands, doing it his way (1 Sam 15). Even Moses disobeyed God when, instead of getting water for the people in His way, he decided to take a shortcut, doing it, instead, in his way (Num. 20). The problem with Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) is the same as those in the Old Testament. They wanted the praise, and they took a shortcut to obtain it.

Modern day religion wants a shortcut as well. “Just accept Jesus as your personal Savior,” is no less a shortcut than those we have cited. It comes short of what God said is necessary to salvation (see Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; Rom. 6:3-4). “Faith only is a most wholesome doctrine and very full of comfort” is a line from one of the most popular denomination’s creed. It’s a shortcut. There is no biblical evidence that “faith only” every saved anybody. In fact, there is ample evidence that it does not (see James 2:22; 2:26). Most of today’s televangelists promise shortcuts to health and wealth, things the Bible nowhere promises. In fact, the opposite is true (see James 1:2-4; 1 Pet. 4:16). Priests, who take a vow of celibacy, have shown themselves experts at taking sexual shortcuts.

There are no shortcuts, folks. You do it God’s way or you suffer the consequences.

Now, let me see if I can bring that home to us. There are no shortcuts for the Christian, either. Just because you’ve been baptized doesn’t give you a box seat in heaven. The Christian has to work hard (1 Pet. 1:10; Gal. 6:7-9; Phil. 2:12; 1 Cor. 15:58).

People who don’t attend and try to learn are just looking for a shortcut sort of religion. “Why do I have to come on Sunday night?” is just an effort to make religion easier. People who just come and give a little and think that they are satisfying God have not taken the time to see that such scant activities are little more than efforts to take the easy way out, that you can’t do your work by proxy. And those who merely warm a pew have not seen that assembling is a means toward becoming better through worship and learning, not a shortcut to heaven.

Matthew 16:24, if it teaches anything at all, teaches that the disciple of Christ must given himself—all of himself—to the Master. He will not accept second place, he will not allow shortcuts.

I’m sad about Ken Caminiti. I thought he was a great player. I saw him hit his first home run as a rookie and I was a fan from then on. I’m sad about Giambi and the others who have admitted to the use of performance enhancing drugs. They are the losers. I’m worried, furthermore, about Barry Bonds and McGwire and lots of others. Who knows how many more will have their records tarnished, their natural abilities questioned, even eventually have an asterisk by their names in the record books, when it comes out that steroids were being generally used by players? Further, the players who didn’t cheat, who have worked hard and been naturally good players suffer the consequences of their cheating teammates because no who knows if the record was because of good ability and hard work or cheating? And explain to me, if you can, what’s the difference in what Pete Rose did and those engaged in this latest fiasco?

There should be no shortcuts in baseball and there will be no shortcuts in religion (Eccl. 12:14). Both produce no good end.

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