Seventh Inning Stretch

For they have refreshed my spirit and yours.  Therefore, acknowledge such men. 1 Corinthians 16:18

Refreshed – Are there people in your life who refresh you?  When you are exhausted, discouraged or disappointed, is there someone whose voice lifts your spirits?  Do you value these wonderful people as a blessing from God?

The impact of this off-hand remark by Paul isn’t obvious until we realize that he is using a Greek word that is the equivalent of the Hebrew shavath.  Let’s translate that.  Paul says that there are some special people whose very lives are a Sabbath for you.  They are the seventh inning stretch people; the ones who arrive just in time to save the game by adding some spiritual energy to your exhausting journey.  As you read these words, you probably know exactly who these people are.  Hopefully, each of us has someone like this.  Of course, it goes without saying that we are also to be seventh inning people for someone else.  That’s how the community works.  Remember our motto: Help me help you.

The Greek word here (anapauo) has some interesting history of its own.  Paul combines ana and pauo.  The simple word for rest is pauo (to cease, to give rest).  Here the tense means that these people actively brought about rest.  It is contrasted with the passive voice where the verb implies being forced to cease labors.  Paul says that he has been refreshed because someone else lifted his burden.  This isn’t the person who tells you, “You know, you better not work so hard,” or the one who commands “Stop working!”  This is the person who gets down in the dirt with you and lifts the weight.  This is the person who sees your struggle and comes to your rescue.

Of course, Paul isn’t content with this image.  He wants to make sure that we get it.  So he adds the preposition ana.  How does this affect the meaning?  Ana emphasizes that this refreshment is the result of “in the midst.”  This is not proxy involvement.  Seventh inning people do not sit on the bench cheering you on.  They step up to the plate and swing the bat.  They are in the game!  Seventh-inning people are not cheerleaders.  They are teammates.  They bring refreshment in the midst of the struggle.

It’s important to see that the Hebrew equivalent for this elegant Greek word is shavath (Sabbath).  There is no refreshment like the refreshment that comes from God.  That’s why God’s plan of seventh-inning help must be taken seriously.  God did not design the universe to operate in nine innings.  He designed it to operate in seven, and He is the consummate seventh-inning helper.  If you’re playing a nine inning game of life, I am afraid that you will find the last two incredibly difficult, especially if you deny yourself a seventh-inning helper.  Get in the right game.  No seventh-inning refreshment is possible in a life that is always in extra innings.

Play ball – and be refreshed

Topical Index:  Sabbath