San Francisco Giants rookie left-handed pitcher Jeremy Accardo may not have intended to, but in his post-game interview yesterday he fired off a pretty effective verbal pitch in the game of life. His insight about surviving pressure on the pitchers’ mound in the ninth inning of a close baseball game makes a lot of sense for other issues of life.

"I went out there with a different attitude,” said Accardo, “and tried to go out there a little more calm. Even the moments I was getting too anxious and too hyped up, I tried to at least fake it like I was calm. It kind of worked!"

Well, yeah. Surprisingly enough, it does kind of work.

Accardo, who earned a save in the pressure-packed ninth inning of a 2-1 game against the Texas Rangers at AT&T Park, discovered something important. He’s lucky to have learned it when he’s just 24. It has taken me a lot longer.

In what may seem like a change of subject, here’s a question about life—it’s actually a two-part theological question: Does what a person believes generate behavior, or does behavior generate a person’s beliefs? The answer is . . . Yes. Both are true.

When it comes to living a Christ-like life, there is no question that the Spirit works inside a believer’s mind to create new motivations. The result, as life goes along, is changes in a person’s habits of daily living. The activity changes naturally and freely because the thinking has changed.  

“We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus,” wrote the apostle Paul to the Colossian Christians. “This gospel is bearing fruit and growing.” A few sentences later, Paul clarifies what he means: “bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1: 4, 6, 10 NIV).

This principle is true: good action flows from good thinking.

As Jeremy Accardo discovered, though, sometimes a person just does what needs to be done, and the mind follows the action. When Accardo’s mind was not peaceful, he simply decided to act as if he were peaceful and his mind followed.

“Be self-controlled,” Peter urged his readers. “And the God of all grace . . . will make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter 5: 8, 10 NIV).

This also is true: good thinking flows from good action.

Sometimes the Nike slogan works best: Just Do It.

B.W.