Try easier

The Tampa Bay Rays have started their season 0-5. The Rays squeezed out just four hits in a 5-1 loss to the Angels that left them with their first winless homestand since 2000.

So, what should they do? Try harder, right? No. How about this? Try easier.

"There are times when you actually have to try easier," manager Joe Maddon said. "Right now, we can't try any harder than we are. I prefer our guys kind of back off just a little bit mentally, understand exactly what's going on, don't read it the wrong way, and eventually you come out of these moments."

In baseball, a player who tries too hard will tighten up and become less effective. 

Try easier, not harder. I think these are good words for spiritual leaders, pastors, church planters, and missionaries.

Maddon's comments remind me of something that Someone with far more insight and power once said about the futility of trying harder and about the fruitfulness of trying easier.

The Lord Jesus Christ once said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5). 

We are fruitless if we try hard through self-effort, through seeking impact in our own strength. According to Jesus, that's a sure-fire way of doing nothing of eternal value. 

Trying harder to be better in our own strength won't produce results. We'll do worse than 0-5. Only God produces the fruit. You don't see a branch straining and grunting and groaning to produce fruit. We must learn to "try easier" - to abide in Christ. 

We must be “actively passive” as we serve in ministry. Or perhaps we could think of ourselves as being “passively active.” “Abide,” Jesus says. Don’t miss the command. Abide is an imperative – not a suggestion or a request. To abide, we must act. To abide means to remain, to stay closely connected, to settle in for the long term. 

Jesus is teaching all believers how an ongoing, vital connection with Him will directly determine the amount of His supernatural power at work in our lives for our fruitfulness. 

The branch with the largest, least-obstructed connection with the vine is abiding the most and will have the greatest potential for results. 

So, when it comes to ministry success, try easier, not harder.