Faith Through the Journey

Our society is a very competitive one. From athletics to business, politics to consumer sales, there is no end to the drive to be Number One. There are opportunities for competition in just about every area of life, in anything we undertake. Being the best at something motivates us to keep working toward our goal. In my younger days, I was involved in music competitions. For the most part, this was done in front of a judge who would give a numerical ranking to my performance, and of course the coveted number 1 rating was what I worked for. I received a number of those for piano performance, but there were also a couple of 2s along the way. This was disappointing to me, but motivated me to work harder the next time. I was also involved in student government in high school and college, and ran for offices a number of times. There were wins, and there were losses.

As a mother of three athletes, I had plenty of opportunities to cheer my childrens’ successes and also try to encourage them through those times when their team lost or when they didn’t perform as well as they could have. Being a gracious winner can be easy, but being a gracious loser requires much more strength of character. The loser must realize that the winner performed better than they did on that day, or that they simply made mistakes that the winner did not. Losing a contest of any kind is always an opportunity to look back and see what went wrong and to try to correct it the next time.

As a fan of a number of professional and college sports teams, I find myself wrapped up in the athletic contests of my favorite teams. Losses by my beloved Texas A&M Aggies, Wisconsin Badgers, San Antonio Spurs, Green Bay Packers and (yes) Chicago Cubs always leave me feeling a little blue. Close losses are much worse, because I know there were opportunities to win the game, but it didn’t happen. While athletic contests can be important, they must always be kept in perspective as a form of entertainment. And it is a fact that, with the exception of the team who wins a championship, every other team’s season ends with a loss.

Determination and a desire to win are essential to fight many of life’s battles. Right now a number of people close to me are fighting a battle with cancer. The stakes are much higher than any athletic contest, for this is truly a fight for their lives. I watched my mother successfully battle cancer, and she has now been cancer free for 10 years. These kinds of battles keep other competitions in perspective. Interestingly enough, the “drive” to win in other types of contests can be very useful for someone facing a life-threatening illness. During the course of my many-year battle with Crohn’s Disease, all someone had to do was to tell me I couldn’t do something and that was like waving a red flag in front of a bull! “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do!”

There’s one more dimension to winning and losing. It’s a spiritual one, even more important than any physical battle. The battle for our eternal souls is the most serious one we will ever face. Jesus said in Mark 8:36, 37: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Deciding our eternal destination, whether or not we will admit our need of a Savior, is far more important than any earthly contest, or even a physical battle for our earthly body. Paul understood this, as he said in Philippians 3:13, 14: “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of [the prize]. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” The ultimate prize is eternal life in heaven with Jesus Christ. The most wonderful thing about this prize is that it doesn’t call for athletic prowess or determination or medical miracles. All that is required of us is that we receive the gift of salvation through Christ and turn from the sin that cost Him His life. EVERYONE can be a winner, with an eternal victory! Heaven is full of winners who claimed the ultimate prize!