By Robert Clements
Batting for God..!
And so our wonderful brave courageous girls won the World Cup for India. I am sure you saw the winning match. I am sure your living room echoed with cheers and whistles. But what I want to talk about today is the interview of Jemimah Rodrigues who with an unbeaten one hundred and twenty seven against the mighty Australians steered the Indian women’s cricket team into the World Cup final. There she stood, tears cruising down a tired yet radiant face, and instead of boasting about her shots or her timing, she kept repeating that all glory belonged to God. She even quoted scripture as she spoke. It was refreshing, like a cool sea breeze after a humid day.
In a world where success often leads to arrogance, here was a young woman who remembered who really swung the bat. Yes, she was the one at the crease, but she knew there was another Power steadying her nerves, guiding her judgment, and placing her strokes.
What a lesson for our achievers, politicians, and corporate captains. Imagine if our leaders, after a successful election or a quarter of good profits, were to say, I thank God for His grace, instead of, It was my strategy, my brilliance, my vision. Humility disarms pride. Gratitude opens the door to greater achievements.
Humility is not weakness. It is strength under control. It is knowing that even though you have talent, the spark that lights it came from above. Many a mighty leader has fallen not because of a clever opponent but because of his own swollen head. The moment you start thinking you are god, as many of our leaders appear to think, the countdown begins. Pride puffs up, reality pricks, and the fall follows.
Look around and you will see the signs. Our cities are filled with faces of men and women who believe they alone built the nation. Their pictures glare at us from billboards, brochures, and banners, as if a smile can fill a pothole or a grin can mend a broken bridge. If only they realised that beauty fades faster than the ink on those posters. Jemimah showed us what it means to be grounded while being lifted high. She taught us that you can hit a century and still bend your knee. That it is possible to be confident without being conceited. That joy can be wide and deep when it is shared with its Source. Her voice that day did not tremble from fear. It trembled from awe. She knew she had been used for something larger than herself. That is the sweetest kind of triumph.
Scripture says that whoever can be trusted with little can be trusted with much. That is not merely a verse to learn by heart. It is a way to live. Jemimah did not begin her gratitude with a century. She began when no camera looked her way. Thank you for another day. Thank you for strength to train. Thank you for a coach who corrects. Thank you for the chance to try again. Gratitude in the shadows sets you up for grace in the spotlight.
And where should gratitude be voiced. Only inside church walls. Only at the family table. Or out in the open where the marketplace can hear. Gratitude that ventures beyond a safe corner becomes a testimony. When you say, God helped me, in the wide public square, two things happen. Heaven smiles. And someone listening discovers that faith can stand tall in stadiums and boardrooms and television studios. Faith does not fear bright lights.
There is a warning here for the rest of us. If all you hear from a hero or a leader is I did it, then wait. The fall will come. You cannot plant pride and harvest peace. But if you hear, God helped me, and you see a life that reflects that confession, you can expect steady progress. Because God trusts those who will return the crown to Him.
So here is a suggestion for the coming week. Keep a small notebook. Each evening write three reasons to thank God. One may be big, like a target reached. One may be ordinary, like a warm cup of tea shared with a friend. One may be hidden, like a temptation resisted. At the end of the week read the list aloud. You will discover that gratitude changes your eyesight. You begin to notice mercy where earlier you noticed only noise. And as your gratitude grows, your courage grows with it.
Because courage and gratitude are cousins. Gratitude makes you brave in success, since praise goes upward and pride does not bloat. Gratitude makes you brave in failure, since you remember past mercies and refuse to give up. Jemimah’s interview held both kinds of courage. She refused the easy story of self glory, and she embraced the better story of God’s grace.
Kudos to a young cricketer who batted for God. May more of us learn to play our innings the same way. With courage that does not swagger. With grace that does not fade. With gratitude that speaks plainly in private and in public. Because when you play for Him, you never truly get out. Even when the scoreboard says your time at the crease is over, your witness keeps scoring in hearts that heard you give thanks.
So when your next opportunity comes, whether it is a meeting room or a classroom or a quiet kitchen, pick up the bat that is yours. Prepare well. Work hard. Then look up and say, Help me Lord. And when the boundary arrives, look up again and say, Thank You Lord. If that becomes your rhythm, the field before you will feel wide, and the audience above will smile.
Bat for God, and you will discover the secret that Jemimah shared without a sermon. The game changes when gratitude takes strike…!
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