The Lord's Baseball Game
Bob and the Lord stood by to observe a baseball game. The Lord's team was playing against satan's team.
The Lord's team was up to bat. The score was zero to one (satan had scored the one point) and it was the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs.
They continued to watch as a batter stepped up to the plate. The batter was LOVE. LOVE swung at the first pitch and hit a single, because LOVE never fails.
The next batter up was FAITH. FAITH also hit a single because FAITH works wonders with LOVE.
The next batter was GODLY WISDOM. Satan wound up and threw the first pitch. GODLY WISDOM looked it over and let it pass. Ball one! Three more pitches and GODLY WISDOM walked, because GODLY WISDOM never swings at what satan throws.
The bases are loaded. The Lord then turns to Bob and told him he was going to bring in His star player. Up to the plate stepped GRACE, warming up His swing for the pitcher.
Bob gave the Lord a worried look and said, "Are You sure You want to be putting Him in now? The bases are loaded, You need to really depend on the next batter to do something extraordinary. That batter just doesn't look like much."
Satan's whole team relaxed and began laughing when they saw GRACE. Thinking he had won the game, satan wound up and fired his first pitch. To everyone's amazement, GRACE hit the ball harder than anyone had ever seen.
But satan wasn't worried, his center fielder let very few balls ever get passed him. He went up to catch the ball but it went right through his glove, hit him on the head and sent him crashing to the ground. Then it continued over the fence for the grandslam homerun!!!
The Lord's team won!!! The Lord asked Bob if he knew why LOVE, FAITH, and GODLY WISDOM, could get on base but could not win the game. Bob answered that he did not know why.
The Lord explained, "If your LOVE, FAITH, and WISDOM had won the game you would think you had done it by yourself. LOVE, FAITH and WISDOM can get you on base... but only MY GRACE can get you home. MY GRACE is the only thing satan cannot steal."
Moral: DON'T EVER THINK YOU CAN DO THINGS ON YOUR OWN!!! It may work for a little while, but you will eventually need God's Grace.
Ephesians 2:8-9 God saved you by his grace when you believed. and you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. NLT