Strike Three

Major League Baseball is moving closer to replacing human umpires with an automated system for calling balls and strikes. Last week’s All-Star game included limited use of the automated system and the ability of each team to challenge calls it believed to be incorrect. Proponents of the system hope it will lead to expanded use of the technology in the 2026 regular season.

Analysis and eternal perspective: This is a fun human-interest story, but it will also generate more controversy than you might expect! Avid baseball fans—Yours Truly included—are sure to have a strong opinion either for or against the use of the automated strike zone.

There is also a parallel application for your life and mine, and it is similar to the one we considered previously about a multitude of counselors. You and I need trusted and Godly counsel in our lives. We need those who are willing and able to call balls and strikes for us according to God’s Word. We need those who know His Word and know His voice to be willing to walk with us as we walk out His path for us.

Left to your own devices, the proverbial strike zone of your life is likely to grow (or shrink, depending on whether you take the perspective of the pitcher or the batter)! Take a moment now to consider who in your life should be trusted to carefully “handle the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).

The following article originally appeared in Thann’s “The Equipped” Weekly Newsletter. For more information on Thann’s weekly email, click here.