(This is a continuation of my last blog – part 1.  We are discussing strategies for winning based on 1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

3. AIM CLEARLY (vs. 26)

            Paul says, “I run in such a way as not without aim.”  I saw a lady in a track meet win her race by several yards but be disqualified because she ran out of her lane for a period.  It is too easy to be distracted, to be unclear about what really matters, to miss the importance of commitment and sacrifice, or to forget that trying too many things is at least as bad in its outcome as trying too few things.  These kinds of things disqualify too many.  Aim means the eliminating of everything but the objective of your aim.  Are there a few things at which you are aiming?  What strategy are you employing to reach them?  Is your aim and strategy in writing? (It should be.)  Is it clear and really important to you? (It should be.)  How about to others?  To try too little is to guarantee a small outcome. To try everything is to guarantee that you will do nothing well.  Aim in order to win.

4. GIVE UP THE RIGHT TO FEEL GOOD IN THE SHORT TERM (vs. 27)

            It’s a sad part of the human condition that we let happiness matter more to us than winning.  Look at the face of the man who scores the winning touchdown.  Happy?  You bet.  Look at that same face when he’s been at practice for two hours in the hot sun and his coach is in his face yelling at him.  Happy?  Not at all.  Yet without paying the price of seemingly thankless preparation, he would not have won.  All the most important things in life require not just self-discipline but self-sacrifice.  That’s the point of verse 27.  Want a great marriage when you’re 60?  Self-sacrifice will be required now.  Want great kids when they’re 35?  More self-sacrifice.  Want great standing when you retire among your peers?  More self-sacrifice.  You have to be prepared to sacrifice good feelings, relaxation, and contentment in the present to be able to win at something in the future.  Nobody gets to the Promised Land on an escalator.  Everybody has to walk over sharp rocks at times.  Part of getting there is being willing to pay that price.

            I hope this helps in your developing a winning strategy.

            No one can win at everything nor can anyone win all the time at anything.  But everyone can plan to win. You could substitute the word “succeed” for the word “win” and the above sentence would have similar truth, but maybe you would feel it was more applicable.  That’s what Paul is getting at in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.  A study of that text is a pretty good way to develop a winning strategy.

1. DEVELOP YOUR LIFE AROUND THE DESIRE TO SUCCEED/WIN ( vs. 24)

                       Paul contrasts the “also ran” with the “really ran.”  Some enter a race just to get a   t-shirt; others to win.  It’s the “really ran” that Paul commends.  It’s not winning that is commended but the intent to win and running in such a way that you can win.  There are races that are purely optional.  Nobody has to play golf, and some of the happiest golfers I know don’t care whether they win or not.  However, when you get married, have a child, take a job, or become a Christian, your “just    finishing” is not an option.   You need to succeed at these big things in life and you can do it, but it starts by saying to yourself, “I will not be an ‘also ran.’ I want to learn to win at this.”

2. CONTROL YOURSELF (vs. 25)

             Paul says the Christian life is about eternity, so we should be at least as determined as a man who wants a trophy, gold medal, or check.  This verse commends “self-control.”  This is a concept many skip, but no one who wins     skips it.  I see people fail at self-control because they would rather feel good now or they would rather shift the responsibility to an accountability partner.  You can often find such a person who will “hold you accountable,” but if you want to win,  you must learn to take that responsibility yourself.  To be sure, we all have periods when an accountability partner is essential and important, but most of the time it’s like having somebody else do your homework.  If you expect your wife  to see to it that you become a good husband or father or your husband to see to it that you become a good wife or mother, you are shirking your responsibility and diminishing your chance of success.  So if you need an accountability partner in     the short-term for some special need, God bless you for doing what it takes.  But God expects “SELF-control” of His people, and if you’re going to win at any important aspect of your life, it is an essential element.

(to be continued)

In a sermon a few weeks ago I made the offhand remark that parents should teach their children to win with grace and lose with faith.  Elizabeth Gibbons’ thoughtfully asked through e-mail, “I understand winning with grace, but how can we lose with faith?”  This is a great question for us all, and I want to spend the next several columns fleshing out my too brief e-mail answer to Elizabeth’s question.  So thanks, Elizabeth, for listening critically and asking a really helpful question.  In the next several blogs I will cover:

1. Winning with Grace         
2. Having a desire to win
3. Having a worthwhile goal
4. Developing a strategy for winning
5. Taking responsibility with gratitude
6. Losing with Faith
7. Things worth losing
8. Possessing the faith to learn from a loss
9. Winners lose without becoming losers

             Our text for these blogs will be I Corinthians 9:24, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize?  Run in such a way that you may win.”  This verse is not just about winning at sports but about the importance at winning at life and, in particular, winning at the Christian life. 

 WIN WITH GRACE BY HAVING THE DESIRE TO WIN

            One of my favorite questions to ask ministers in interviews is, “How competitive are you?”  I enjoy asking the question because only about two in a hundred are comfortable with whatever answer they give.  What I’d love to hear is, “I’m competitive.  I like to win.”  Most of them are apologetic about wanting to win, even if they do, as if the desire to win were some kind of a character flaw.  God speaks to us through Paul and makes it clear that Christians are to develop the desire and ability to win at whatever game they enter. 

             Look at 1 Corinthians 9:24 again.  Obviously, running is a command which means it is neither natural nor universal to do so.  You must choose both to enter the race and to run.  It also means that in the games you enter, you are to expend all the energy and effort you have in order to try to win.  For the Christian life, he is saying, “Don’t just get in the race to get a T-shirt, get in to win.”  Today because so many people want everyone to feel affirmed we diminish the importance of winning so no one will feel like a loser when they don’t win.  According to this passage of Scripture, anyone who takes winning casually at marriage, church, school, business, friendship, or following Christ is destined to lose.  We will see in a later column that this doesn’t mean you have to win, but it does mean you must run in order to win. 

             So, do you want to win with grace?  That’s the first step – wanting to.  If you just want to be in the game or if you want someone else to do the hard work and the heavy lifting, stop right now and ask God to give you the desire to run the races in your life in order to win.

             I have been asked by a few people over the last few weeks, “Why are you against gambling?  What difference does it make?”  Let me try to explain.  What I talked about a few weeks ago was that ideas have power.  The idea of something for nothing or by luck has power and is not good.  It is impossible to isolate our values so they don’t affect seemingly unrelated areas of life.  Gambling is one of those practices that appeals to the lowest part of our financial nature.  The higher part is the productive, committed part that says, “Here is a product that will benefit people.  I’m going to sell it,” or “Here is a service that will help people and make a positive difference.  I’m going to sell it.”  All gambling is based on the notion that with luck I can get rich.  It brings out the worst in people, and it is something no community needs to support. They look to luck rather than preparation, hard work, and good execution.

             There is also a big difference between regulating what becomes legal and regulating personal behavior.  When the county makes something legal, its proponents will say – that makes it ok.  I want to make sure that the law approves as few harmful practices as possible.

             We are going through a stage right now in our culture where legislators don’t want to raise taxes but they need more money. An easy way to do this is through allowing and taxing gambling.  We have had widespread gambling in the past.  Ride out Devine Street and Garner’s Ferry Road and you’ll see near the Lutheran Church of the Incarnation an historical marker indicating there was a horse track where the children’s home now stands.  Further out by the VA Hospital there was another one.  That one belonged to Wade Hampton.  So we have had organized gambling in this state in the past.  We don’t have it now because back then we discovered that while it looks like fun, it’s actually quite harmful.  The human cost exceeds the human value. Right now it’s back on the upswing, and it will take awhile before we see the error of our ways and again restrict it.  However, I think it is important to take a stand and raise the issue wherever it makes sense.  The human cost is still too high.