Life as a Christian involves balancing a partnership with God, where understanding His will is less about rigid absolutes and more about individual insight, allowing believers to lead meaningful lives anchored in faith, love, and purpose. Finding harmony between spiritual commitments and daily responsibilities can be approached through a model resembling a baseball diamond, which provides a framework for prioritizing one's relationship with God, family, work, and creative expression.
In Shawn's teaching, the metaphor of baseball is used to illustrate the priorities in the Christian life, emphasizing that the first base—RELATIONSHIPS of LOVE, primarily with God, and then with others such as spouses, children, family, neighbors, and even enemies—should be the foundational focus before addressing any other life challenges. This approach stresses the importance of agape love, suggesting that loving God and others with selfless love should guide every action and decision.
"People Over Programs" emphasizes prioritizing relationships, treating individuals with love rather than focusing solely on program outcomes. The next priority is "Maintenance," which entails regular attention to sustaining all aspects of life, including physical, intellectual, spiritual, and emotional well-being, ensuring happiness and efficient daily functioning.
The teaching emphasizes the foundational importance of cultivating strong relationships with God, family, and others as the first priority, followed by maintaining various aspects of life such as physical, intellectual, and financial well-being. Additionally, it highlights the crucial role of creative expression across occupations, hobbies, and personal pursuits in enhancing human joy and making life's maintenance more manageable.
Prioritize building loving relationships with God, your spouse, children, extended family, neighbors, and even enemies, while also focusing on maintaining physical, intellectual, spiritual, financial, educational, and emotional well-being. Balance these commitments with creative expression and leisure activities like dining out, going to the beach, or watching films, ensuring relaxation and enjoyment in family life.
The teaching emphasizes a structured and interactive approach to life, focusing on maintaining balanced relationships with God, family, and others while creatively engaging in personal and professional domains. By applying this prioritizing template, one can navigate life’s challenges and opportunities with clarity, ensuring time is taken for leisure and relaxation with loved ones.
Living life to the fullest involves being a responsible steward of the gifts God has given, especially focusing on family and fulfilling one's purpose in His name. This approach is adaptable to various roles, such as businesswoman, lawyer, or shopkeeper, and encourages individuals to maximize their potential by following this guiding principle.
Heart of the Matter
Show 40L First, Second and Third before Home
Taped July 4th 2021
Aired July 6th 2021
Introduction to Christian Living
Most of you know that I have been a Christian for over twenty years and have been in active full time ministry for eighteen. During the last 15 or so years I have been able, by the grace of God and His abiding hand, to hotly pursue Him while at the same time remaining married, (thanks to my wife) the father of three now adult daughters, grandfather of two grandsons, and father-in-law to two great sons-in-law. Once I came to Christ in 97’, we pretty much lost everything around us materially as we embarked on a life dedicated to Him. But He told me one night (in my heart) “that my job was to ride and that he would build.”
I want to talk to you about that ride and how I approach it minute to minute, hour by hour, day by day, year after year. I am doing this because of all the questions that I am asked by active, caring devoted Christians the one that pops up most, relative to ministry is: “Where do you find the time to do all of this stuff?” The stuff they are referring to is shows, teachings, books, art, speaking, advising, and the everyday demands of marriage and family.
Hand in hand with this question I am also often asked by younger Christian people (teens and college-aged kids usually) is “How do you know what to do and how do you know what you are doing is in harmony with the will of God for your life?” I realize that this subject is super subjective and doesn’t have much to do with parsing scripture or teaching the word, but the questions do have application to our lives as Christians here on earth—lives which we recognize that God has gifted us with—and they therefore touch directly on the essential philosophical query we all might ask ourselves: “How should I live?”
Christian Life: A Two-Lane Highway
Some suggest that the answer is objectively delivered and lock-step for every person. Others believe that the answer can only come from each and every individual soul. Some have an ordered set of priorities that I would never embrace as they would never embrace mine—but I want to answer these questions generally for any Christian seeking insights. I happen to believe that life, as a Christian, is a two-lane highway, a partnership with God, and that He does what He will do, and we do what we will do, and somewhere along the way we as His children learn the balance.
- Socrates
- Descartes
- Kant
- Locke
- Schopenhauer
- Kierkegaard
- Sartre
- Camus
- Marx
- Hugo
- Dostoyevsky
- Rand
- Von Mises
- Hesse
- Salinger
In my twenties and thirties, I spent a lot of time examining the advice and wisdom of secular men and women and their responses to how life should be lived. But in the face of the living participative God, none of their insights could be taken as absolutes—at least in my opinion.
Once I became more biblically literate, which happened when I was leaving Mormonism and continued to grow to this day (due to the presence of the Holy Spirit within), I started to see a process, if you will, or a template, an order of prioritization that worked in that it allowed me to delve deep in my relationship with God, allowed me to love others better, allowed me to maintain a grip on the material demands around me, to express myself creatively and to enjoy life along the way.
Introducing a Model
So, I am going to share this with you now—if there is a need in your life for reordering it, or if as a Christian you are feeling a loss or lack, consider what I have to say and use it if it suits you. Let me introduce you to a model or template of sorts—and unfortunately, it is sports-related. But there are so many life applications in sport I can’t get around the fact that it works and truly serves our purposes.
I want you to imagine in your head a professional baseball diamond—also called the infield.
The Game of Christian Living
Life pitches you “a circumstance – it could be an opportunity like a job offer, a chance to buy a home, or a challenge, like cancer, debt, or someone you love having a problem. It could really be anything at all but the pitched item represents EVERYTHING that is thrown at you as a Christian human being.
You will take a swing at these pitched events and circumstances, but our focus here is not on the hitting, our focus is on the order of running the bases for the purposes of scoring in life.
Running the Bases
In this analogy, there is no reason to include the defensive positions when our purposes are how to live, how to find satisfaction, how to accomplish (score) whatever it is you are led to accomplish. So, no outfield in this example – just the baseball diamond – 90 feet from home to first, 90 from first to second, 90 from second to third and ninety from third to home plate – where you score a run or point or can stand accomplished in that moment. The principles and the order of them remain the same. And this is what the principles are.
I am going to make each base a suggested priority and understanding the game of baseball we know that they must all be approached in the same order every time. In other words, there’s no running to second base first, or third – in baseball, once the opportunity, situation or event is pitched and confronted, the only place to go is first base.
First Base: Relationships of Love
And I would strongly suggest that the first and primary priority in the life of a Christian, ahead of everything else of which life consists, in the game of Christian living is RELATIONSHIPS of LOVE. There are many. But the first RELATIONSHIP of LOVE to be considered over all RELATIONSHIPS of Love is love for the Lord God Almighty. This is our primary motivation and priority in everything we encounter in life. No one, nothing above or before Him.
Note that as you travel around the bases of priorities the first base of Relationships of Love is always with you, that you could never get to second or third or home if you didn’t go to first first. So, with that in mind in the Christian life our first priority is to love the Lord with all of your heart and mind and soul. (WRITE LOVE FOR GOD)
Right in behind this first priority of all first priorities is to love neighbor as self. Who is neighbor. In terms of priority?
1st Base – RELATIONSHIPS of Love
- (With God)
- With spouse
- With children
- With extended family
- With neighbors
- With enemies
So remembering that the first priority of Relational Love travels with us wherever we go on the diamond we will always keep those priorities first in everything we do. Always. Nothing else. Ever. Loving God and loving people over all other things first – with agape selfless love.
Got that?
We have a saying that
Prioritizing People and Maintenance
We go by here and it’s “people over programs.” That means we will always defer to treating people with love over any program need. So, if something goes wrong with the sound, or someone fails to hit record, or if our graphics are off, we refuse to treat the cause of such things unlovingly because people always come over programs. So, the first base priority is set and we have labeled them Relationships of Love. We are now ready to move on to second base STOP– and what I am going to describe here is often lost on people, but it is often lost on many Christians even though it has the biggest application to human existence.
The Importance of Maintenance
What is second base in terms of priorities? Maintenance. Maintenance of what? Everything that requires it – which is everything. And in the human experience, it is all-important. We have our bodies to maintain, our homes, our vehicles, our occupations, our finances, our teeth – I mean, you name it, if it’s part of the human experience, everything requires maintenance.
We have already cited the most important priority in our loves being loving God and neighbor, and with love being a verb it goes without saying that that priority includes maintenance in and of itself, but here on second base I am talking about everything else. Maintenance. Keeping up on upkeep. Whatever it is. I used to tell my daughter when we lived together, Jesus brings Joy but maintenance makes happiness. A clean orderly desk, home, garage, car, office. Taxes done and paid on time. Intellectual acuity, physical fitness, and health – it all requires maintenance – attention. Not a lot, but enough and in a timely fashion.
Choosing What to Maintain
Take care of what is at hand as often as you can. Because there are so many things that require maintenance in life it is wise to wisely choose what must be maintained. Some people want to maintain a stable of horses in their lives. That will in all probability take away from the time that they can devote to maintaining intellectual acuity. Some people want to read scripture all day. That spiritual maintenance will inevitably take away time to do other things. Prioritize what you want to maintain wisely, then maintain those things consistently – and let go of the rest.
I personally have no interest in Nascar, sporting events, fancy cars or big homes. This frees me up to better maintain my intellectual, artistic, and spiritual pursuits. People who love animals know the need to maintain them. People who love their health know the need to exercise and eat right. Whatever you want to spend time maintaining, make sure you make maintenance the second most important priority of your base running. Not ever the first – but always the second. Maintenance makes happiness.
Daily Maintenance Practices
Personally, I think health is vital, including dental health, so I exercise daily and try to eat well. I personally want to maintain my grip on scripture – so I maintain a steady dose of scripture study every day. I personally want to keep my mind sharp, so I try and exercise it through various means that I maintain daily. And I have a love for the arts – and so I maintain a hand in what is happening in the music and film world. But amidst it all, I try and maintain the everyday demands for maintenance we all face with what I call the mundane.
2nd Base – MAINTENANCE
- Physical
- Intellectual
- Spiritual
- Temporal/Financial
- Educational
- Emotional
2nd Base – MAINTENANCE
- Physical
- Intellectual
- Spiritual
- Temporal/Financial
- Educational
Relationships
1st Base – RELATIONSHIPS
• With God
• With spouse
• With children
• With extended family
• With neighbors
• With enemies
After the primacy of Relationships and the second priority of maintenance, we can only go to third in our effort to score in the Christian life.
And I am convinced, like Schopenhauer, that fundamental to human joy is . . .
Creative expression.
This does not just mean art. It can be creative expression in ANY field, way, or means. In business. In gardening. In any hobby at all. Some sort of personal expression. In fashion. Whatever. Express yourself creatively. The more you do, the more the maintenance of things around you becomes manageable.
Maintenance
2nd Base – MAINTENANCE
• Physical
• Intellectual
• Spiritual
• Temporal/Financial
• Educational
• Emotional
Creative Expression
3rd Base – CREATIVE EXPRESSION
• In Occupation
• In Home
• In Hobbies
• In Art
• In personal representation
1st Base – RELATIONSHIPS
• With God
• With spouse
Focus on Relationships
With children, extended family, neighbors, and enemies, relationships form the foundation of our lives.
1st Base – RELATIONSHIPS
- With God
- With spouse
- With children
- With extended family
- With neighbors
- With enemies
So, create a better home, a better dinner, a workbench, art, music, whatever, but find ways that suit your soul. After you have made Loving God your primary focus and priority with neighbor coming in next, and once you have maintained the things around you that demand or require it, and after you have found ways to express yourself creatively through some means or another that suits you, you get to head home – literally – because once you have approached whatever is pitched at you – every situation, every opportunity, every challenge through this order and prioritization, its time to enjoy some leisure.
Everything else has required work. The first base of loving relationships requires work – a lot of work. Agape loveSelfless love marked by patience, mercy, and humility—central to living in spiritual liberty. is a work and can frankly be exhausting. And maintenance requires that kind of work that can drive a person mad, right? Creative expression can also be laborious – usually more rewarding in the end but also work, and so the scoring comes with your chosen leisure – because all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. So the scoring is met with respite, recreation, leisure, fun – and it is most beneficial, in the lives of married folk and families, when it is had with the members of the home.
Our family decided a long time ago we would spend time dining out, going to the beach, watching good films, listening to music, and fully supporting each other in whatever activities each individual was involved in. These things were our leisure. Our form of relaxation. Our entertainments. They are not right or wrong, good or bad, but I made sure they came in conjunction with the other three priorities. If we were going to the beach on Saturday, I would make sure all the items needing maintenance were taken care of the week before and then would get up super early to exercise, read and study the word, and then express myself by working on a book in progress. This would set the day for me to relax (which is tough for me to do).
The Importance of Maintenance
2nd Base – MAINTENANCE
- Physical
- Intellectual
- Spiritual
- Temporal/Financial
- Educational
- Emotional
2nd Base – MAINTENANCE
- Physical
- Intellectual
- Spiritual
- Temporal/Financial
- Educational
- Emotional
Leisure Activities
Home – LEISURE
- Entertainments
- Travel
Leisure Activities
- Athletics – Dining – Games – Relaxation – Escapes
Home – LEISURE - Entertainments – Travel – Athletics – Dining – Games – Relaxation – Escapes
Creative Expression
3rd Base – CREATIVE EXPRESSION
- In Occupation – In Home – In Hobbies – In Art – In personal representation
Relationship Priorities
1st Base – RELATIONSHIPS
- With God – With spouse – With children – With extended family – With neighbors – With enemies
1st Base – RELATIONSHIPS
- With God – With spouse – With children – With extended family – With neighbors – With enemies
There’s a constant and consistent order – it never changes. Unlike baseball they are interactive and fully interrelated. The pitches are what life offers you in challenges, opportunities, trials and choices.
There’s a constant and consistent order – it never changes. Unlike baseball they are interactive and fully interrelated. The pitches are what life offers you in challenges, opportunities, trials and choices.
Of course these things are all going on concurrently for most of us and rarely unroll in this exact order, but this is the order of the heart and mind. It is the prioritizing template I go by to meet everything that comes my way – Will I or Am I loving God and neighbor in what I am doing or planning to do? Have I maintained everything necessary to push me forward and to have the freedom and clarity to creatively face life, and then am I taking time with those I love, in my case, members of my family to have fun, relax and enjoy.
Living Life to the Fullest
each other. For me this is the template for living the life God gave me to the fullest, of being a good steward of the gifts he has given me starting with family and of producing what I have been made to produce in His name.
A Template for All Walks of Life
Whether you are a business woman, lawyer or shop keeper, this template might work for you. Take it for what its worth.
Conclusion
WINK
