A Reflection on Past Glory, Present Hunger, and the Danger of Coasting
Corey Seager is one of the most decorated players in recent baseball memory. In 2023 he led the Texas Rangers to their first World Series championship in franchise history, putting on one of the most clutch postseason performances anyone can remember. He was named World Series MVP — for the second time in his career. In Arlington, Texas, he was a hero.
But trophies don’t get you hits.
As the 2026 season unfolds, Seager has gone 27 consecutive at-bats without a hit. The same man who launched a game-tying home run in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the World Series is now stepping into the batter’s box carrying a slump that would test anyone’s confidence. His past glory is real. It is documented. It is undeniable. But it does not change today’s box score.
There is a spiritual truth tucked inside that reality. Many believers (and many ministers) are living on yesterday’s trophy. Maybe you had a season when God moved powerfully through your life. People were saved. Prayers were answered in ways that left you speechless. You watched God rebuild something that everyone else had written off. Those experiences were real. They were sacred. They are part of your story. But somewhere along the way, the memory of what God did began to quietly replace the hunger for what God is doing.
The devotional life that once fueled the work became an afterthought. The desperation that drove you to your knees in a previous season faded into a comfortable confidence rooted not in Christ, but in your history with Him. You stopped seeking and started assuming. And you probably did not even notice it happening.
Paul noticed the temptation. He had a resumé that could silence any room. He had trained under Gamaliel. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He had seen the risen Christ on the Damascus road. He had planted churches across the known world. If anyone had earned the right to coast, it was Paul.
Instead, he wrote from a prison cell, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 3:13-14
Paul understood something that is easy to miss when ministry is going well, yesterday’s anointing is not sufficient for today’s assignment. God is not looking for people who can tell impressive stories about what He used them to do a decade ago. He is looking for people who are available to Him today. He is watching for a fresh surrender, daily dependence, a posture that says, “I cannot do this without You.”
The danger of past success is subtle. It does not announce itself with fanfare. It simply shows up one day as the quiet assumption that you already know what God wants, that you no longer need to seek Him as urgently as you once did, that your experience qualifies you to operate on autopilot. But autopilot is not faith, and there is no such thing as a faith that runs on fumes from a previous season.
Seager will step back into the batter’s box today. The question is not what he did in October of 2023. The question is whether he is ready to do the work required right now — to study, to stay disciplined, to be fully present in this at-bat.
The same is true for you and me. What God did through you in a previous season is a testimony, not a retirement plan. The trophy belongs on the shelf. Your story of what He has done deserves to be told. But you belong in the batter’s box — today, present, dependent, and ready for whatever He puts in front of you.
I am John Crowder, pastor of First Baptist Church in West, TX. View from the Vine is a place where I write about faith, leadership, and life rooted in John 15:5. If this post encouraged you, I would love for you to share it.
John W. Crowder 
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