In sports, it is so easy to focus on what is seen. Statistics and I have a love-hate relationship. I love to look at them when mine are good, but they invade my thoughts when they are bad. I try to keep from even glancing at them anymore, but most of the time curiosity kills the cat. The two statistics that haunt me are my batting average and my ERA. Neither has been up to my standards as of late.

Thankfully, God gave me a new outlook on stats after reading 2 Corinthians 4. This verse claims that we should fix our eyes on what is unseen, not on what is temporary. All our accomplishments, all our numbers and all our wins are temporary. Who will remember what your fielding percentage was 10 years from now? You might remember. If you are lucky, it will be on the back of a baseball card. But in the framework of all eternity, personal statistics do not have much weight.

So then, what does matter eternally? What is “the unseen”? I don’t know the answer for you personally, but I do have some guesses: the hard work you put in to developing skills that help your team, encouraging and lifting up your teammates and opponents, good sportsmanship, dedication to your team, learning how to lose and win gracefully, playing thankfully, using your gifts to honor God, and witnessing to your team and your opponents by the things you say and the way you play the game. None of these things are recorded in your personal statistics. So, the real question is: What has real eternal weight?

Today, don’t be trapped by the stats. Pursue excellence, but don’t forget about those things that matter on a more eternal scale.