In most sports, whether it’s baseball, golf, football, etc., it is important to keep your eye on the ball. If you are playing baseball and you take your eye off the ball you stand a good chance of a swing and a miss. No batter likes to here the umpire yell, “Steeeee-riiiike!”
Golfers who take their eye off the ball to see where it is going before they hit it will often duff the ball and send it bouncing down the fairway much shorter than they intended. That is often followed by words that Christians should not be uttering.
A receiver attempting to catch a pass in football needs to keep his eye on the ball to ensure that he catches it before he turns up-field and runs with it. It is quite embarrassing and frustrating for the quarterback to hit the receiver in the hands only for him to drop it because he was turning to run with it before he caught it. This often happens because the receiver hears the footsteps of the defender and is anticipating contact, which he wants to avoid for a variety of reasons!
As Christians, we are a lot like that receiver. We may have our eye on the ball for a long time, but we often get distracted by the footsteps of the enemy. We take our eye off the ball and drop it. Instead, we need to keep our eye on the ball, grab hold of it firmly, side-step our opponent, and race toward the goal!
Philippians 3:14 (NLT) - “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”