Really?

"It's not if you win or lose, it's how you play the game."

Really? Who came up with that? It sounds to me like someone trying to make themselves feel good about losing. I have never heard someone say that after they had just won the game. As a matter of fact, I don't ever recall hearing any passionate, competitive, athlete say that even if they had just lost the game. Why? Because it does matter if you win or lose. If it doesn't matter then why are you in the game? Why are you competing?

I'm in it to win it. I don't care if it's tic tac toe, checkers, or a game of pig...I want to win! Don't get me wrong it is important how you play the game. I don't ever think that winning supersedes your integrity, but winning the game is the ultimate goal isn't it? Also, if you lose isn't that proof that you didn't play the game well? Or at least someone else played the game better?

I'm sick of this "make everybody feel good about themselves", "let everyone make the team", "don't hurt anybody's feelings" society we live in today. I thing it is a fertile breeding ground for apathy. If you know me at all you know how I feel about that apathetic, don't care, it's good enough attitude. It makes me wanna lose my Christianity. Where is your heart, where is your passion, drive, and desire?

If you want to feel good about yourself set a goal. Then don't try to reach it, but train to achieve it. It takes TIME, DISCIPLINE, SACRIFICE, PERSEVERANCE and HARD WORK. No shortcuts, no tricks, no pills, no lotions, just flat out passion and determination to achieve the goal.

All that is well and good, but God's Word reinforces all these principles in the race that we are all running. The race we call life. God has given us this life and He has also given us the goal. Paul shares in Acts 20:24, "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace."


Am I running the race to win? Am I just trying my best or am I training myself to assure victory? This is where winning and losing really does count. There are eternal consequences. How we played the game really won't matter but the outcome most certainly will. We might be the coach who recruits "lost" players to our team or we might be the teammate who encourages another to get off the bench. We might offer a hand to another who stumbled over one of life's hurdles. How we build and strengthen the team doesn't matter. What matters is that we run the race with passion and purpose. Am I passionate or apathetic about this race? Am I running the race just to get a souvenir t-shirt that says I ran the race or am I running the race to get the real prize?

Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

I could never imagine Paul saying, "It's not if you win or lose, it's how you play the game".

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