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In 1924, “Goose” Goslin established himself as one of the top run producers in Major League Baseball. He also helped his team, the Washington Senators, get to the World Series in back-to-back seasons and win their first world championship.

A story is told that during one of those World Series games, a major blunder took place. The score was tied late in the game and Goslin was at the plate with two outs. He hit a deep fly ball that hit the top of the outfield wall and bounced back into the field of play. The ball danced around the outfield a bit as Goslin rounded the bases in pursuit of an inside the park homerun. The fans launched out of their seats. All eyes were fastened on home plate as the shortstop took the cutoff from left center, rotated and fired the ball to the catcher. Goslin slid into home whipping up a cloud of dust, well before the tag as the plate umpire called him safe.

The crowd became delirious. But the hysteria of the fans was shockingly interrupted when the first base umpire came charging in declaring that Goslin had missed first base, and thereby ruled him out.

It is told that a reporter grabbed Goslin after the game and said, “Goose, didn’t you know you had missed first base?” Goslin reportedly said, “I knew, but I didn’t think anyone else did.”

Missing first base doesn’t just happen on the baseball field, it happens in life too.

The Bible tells the story of a man who had utterly missed first base in his religious life. His name is Nicodemus, a legend in his own time. He was a deeply religious man, educated, powerful, wealthy, famous, and influential. Nicodemus was a Pharisee.

The Pharisees were a very strict sect of religious people holding dogmatic and legalistic views about God. Their rigid belief system was consistent with the Old Testament law. They believed in God’s sovereignty. They believed in the resurrection of the dead and in a spiritual afterlife. They believed in the existence of angels and demons. Yet they were in constant conflict with Jesus. Their smug “holier-than-thou” pretentions to moral superiority and self-righteousness often clashed with Jesus, the very Son of the living God.

Isn’t it ironic that some of the people who are so rigid in their beliefs about God can sometimes be the ones furthest from God? From the Pharisees we learn that it’s not all that uncommon for folks to hold strict views about God while being in conflict with God at the same time.

As a Pharisee, Nicodemus had the finest theological education and most prominent religious training of his time, yet he was so very far from God. He had religion, but no relationship with God. He was empty. He was searching. So in John 3 he comes to Jesus in search for some spiritual answers. But he does it at nighttime. Wanting to uphold his image and reputation of being a religious man who had it all together, he didn’t want the embarrassment of anyone thinking otherwise, so he came to Jesus while the rest of the world slept.

But let’s give Nicodemus credit. At least he came. He humbled himself. At least he dropped his defenses a little bit, let go of the masquerade long enough, and opened his heart vulnerably to consider that maybe he didn’t know it all—that there was still something missing in his life. He was basically saying to Jesus, “I recognize that You are the real deal (the Son of God) and there is a distinct possibility that I am missing God here.”

Jesus immediately cuts to the chase and explains a deeper spiritual reality that Nicodemus had been missing: “You must be born again” (John 3:3). Sadly, the phrase born again has been pirated and distorted of its meaning in our generation but it essentially means to be born from above, to experience a spiritual rebirth, an inward change of heart.

It takes humility to admit that maybe we don’t have it all together. It takes a great deal of courage to let down our religious facades and recognize that knowing religious truths and attending worship services don’t always mean that we are walking with God. Nicodemus’ life was filled with routine religious activity, but void of genuine fellowship with God. He was running the bases of moral legalism though he had never touched the first base of being born from above.

Never assume that activity for God is tantamount to knowing God. We can be vigorously running the bases of moralism and legalism while having missed first base altogether. Pharisaism can creep into our lives very subtly. It’s our spiritual responsibility to check ourselves routinely and ensure that our religious activity itself never becomes a surrogate of having genuine fellowship with God.

Think about that as you Abide in Him this week.

Never assume that activity for God is tantamount to knowing God. From the Pharisees we learn that it’s not all that uncommon for folks to hold strict views about God while being in conflict with God at the same time.

Questions for Reflection:

1. When would you say you were born again?
2. When have you ever felt like religious activity was taking the place of a personal relationship with God in your life?
3. Pharisaism can be a subtle dissentient to God’s grace flourishing in our lives. How can you detect it in your life?
4. Like Nicodemus, where can humility lead you into a deeper intimacy with Jesus this week?

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