Winning

There is something wrong with me.  Sure, I have plenty of physical ailments and blemishes.  My elbows hurt, my back hurts and I can’t see as well as I used to be able to see.  I have knee pain, very little hair and spots on my skin where there previously had not been spots on my skin.  However, these are the “wrongs” that I am referring to.  There is something else.  I have a problem in my thinking.  I am not sure where it came from, but it has plagued me for decades. I have an unhealthy NEED to…WIN!

It is absurd.  In 3^rd grade I remember running races every day at recess against other 3^rd grade boys.  I would beat most of them, though there were a few, namely, Tommy, Brian and Mike that were just flat out faster than I was.   I usually tried to avoid racing against those boys and opted for other competition that was known to be slower.  Why?  As I already stated…I wanted to win.

I raced every day, until one day when I lost to Kris.  Kris…was a girl.  I therefore hung up my Buster Browns and turned to other areas of competition that I could be victorious at. 

One of my next endeavors consisted of standing in the Elementary School lavatory, where I allowed other boys to punch me in the gut.  It was a game of endurance.  Two boys would compete side by side, willingly taking punches to the stomach, until one of the two would quit. 

I was once again reasonably competitive at “Gut Grinding,” perhaps because of my amazing abdominal fortitude…or my lack of a prefrontal cortex.   I won most of these head to heads. Day after day I took a walloping…until…I vomited and the competition ceased, because when vomiting occurs…there are no winners.    

Life was constantly placing competition before me.  I turned my family supper time into a race to who could consume the most slices of pizza in the least amount of time.  Needless to say, I was a champ.  The other 5 members of my family couldn’t hold a candle to my ability to bite, swallow, bite swallow.  There was neither room nor time to taste and chew.  I could easily gut 4 slices before my mother and siblings could finish their first.  The only one who could maybe hang with me was my dad…but he would cut me off way before I was ready, “If you touch another slice, you won’t be able to sit down for a week.  Now take a breath and let some other people eat.”

I wanted to win at everything, wrestling, cribbage, foosball, battleship.  Sadly, this is still the case today.  As an adult, my oldest child accused me of cheating at Candy Land, but seriously…can a 4 year old really be trusted?   

Somewhere along the line, winning had become a barometer used to measure my self-worth.  If I could win…then I had value.  It is not just me…it seems that winning has saturated our society.  We want to be the best, to outdo others, to prove that in some way…even for a moment…”I am better than you…thus I must have more value than you.”

This Sunday, an estimated 100 million Americans will gather in front of big screen TV’s and a plate of chicken wings, to watch the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles.  In regards to this game, I believe that there are three things that you can be certain of. 

1.      One team will be victorious.

2.      One team lose.

3.      There is a greater victory in this world than all other victories combined. 

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul writes about the greatest victory that has EVER been known to mankind…the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  What is even more astounding about this victory…which is TOTALLY INCREDIBLE…is that for those who choose to put their faith in Jesus Christ…THEY TOO…will get to share in that victory.

This blows my mind.  Though I had done nothing to earn or achieve this victory, I can enjoy this victory FULLY, by simply putting my faith in Jesus and trusting him for my salvation…for my victory. 

As you watch these NFL teams strive to win, may you be reminded that those who are in Jesus…HAVE ALREADY WON! Good luck doing that Mr. Mahomes.