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Winners & Losers

  • December 3, 2019
  • Posted by: Carolyn Mahal
  • Category: Devotions
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“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples. If you have love for one another.” – John 13:34-35

One of the best parts of being the fan of a sports team is the rivalries that teams develop with one another. Fans love it when their team wins a game, but beating a rival brings another level of joy that can’t be matched. Win and you can hold bragging rights for days, months, or even years. Lose and you find yourself frustrated, impatiently waiting for the next match-up when you know that your team will get revenge. In the days leading up to the game, you exchange jokes and barbs designed to poke fun of your rival. In the aftermath, you bask in the victory celebration, taunting your defeated rival who can do or say nothing until next time. Can this teasing become petty and juvenile? Absolutely! But after all, good natured ribbing is all part of the fun of being a fan.

Sadly, this type of behavior has become all to commonplace in other areas of our lives outside of sports fandom. It seems that our society has become all to consumed with the ideas of winning and losing in our politics, our purchases and our relationships. News coverage has become less about getting the story right, and far more about getting the story first; winning the race to report something before somebody else gets the scoop (and the Internet clicks and dollars that come with them). We strive to have the best. We push to have the most. We cheat to get the victory. In fact, this drive to be on top has eliminated the joys of life that come from winning in the first place.

Why do we do this? One big reason is we just don’t want to be the ones who lose. Losing equals weakness and inadequacy. Losing puts us in the position where winners can look down upon us and rub their victories in our noses, and when that happens, our competitive natures combine with our bruised egos to create reactions that are petty at best, destructive at worst. Fights started over disrespect have become common, and not just on the field. Fans take it out on one another in the stands, the parking lots, and in every corner of social media.

These behaviors, from both our winners and our losers, show us a difficult truth about who we are as a society. Too many people are consumed with winning, acquiring wealth and power, and with creating a legacy that they have forgotten to embrace the responsibilities that come with success: integrity, honesty, grace, and a desire to build up others through our triumph, especially those we may have defeated along the way. These acts are selfless, filled with compassion, and give us the best opportunity to show the true victor to a defeated world.

Christians from every corner of creation will tell you that the single most important victory of all time was the victory Jesus won for us on the cross. That said, remember these two important ideas:

  1. Dying on a cross is about the least victorious thing you could do. Jesus was arrested on false pretenses, convicted in a sham of a trial, sentenced to death to appease a mob, and executed using one of the most horrific methods ever devised. Not exactly a victory lap!
  2. There was absolutely no personal gain for this win. Champions today get money, fame, diamond rings and parades. The spoils of Jesus’ victory were given to us. Paul reminds us of this in his words to the Corinthians, “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Everything He did, everything He endured, was for the benefit of a people soundly defeated by their own sinful natures.

In this victory, we see a model for how we as His people should treat one another. Christ made it clear as He told us to love one another in the very same way He loved us. This is no ordinary love. It is neither conditional nor self-serving. In fact, it is a love that is so out of the ordinary in our world that it is destined to make the recipient wonder from where it could have possibly come. This simple act opens the door for the Holy Spirit to win redemption for another soul.

May God continue to bless us as we give Him glory for our victory won for us by Christ.

 

Devotion by Richard Schumacher

LSEM Director of Programs & Services