I love to win. I like to compete, and I can enjoy the game even if I lose, but I love to win. Even in those rare instances when I lose on purpose so that someone else can win, I struggle with wanting to announce that I could have won if I had wanted to!
The Apostle Paul was partial to winning too, but he wrote about a far greater game.
“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-25 ; 2 Timothy 4:7-8)
My greatest athletic accomplishment thus far would have to be the two city league championships that our church softball team won back-to-back a few years ago. I not only coached the team but was an important participant on the field of play as well. The towering trophies sat in my office at the church for the next several months. Now they’re probably buried behind some old Vacation Bible School costumes in some forgotten closet of the church. Playing sports and winning trophies is great, but it’s infinitely less significant when compared to the Christian race and the prize that awaits the winners. Here’s why we should spend far less time playing sports and worrying about trophies than we do running for the “crown of righteousness.”
1. Staying fit physically has some temporary value, but “working out spiritually” has eternal benefits. It’s good to eat healthy and stay physically fit, but whether we live to be 20 or 200, our time in this body is very short in light of eternity. 1 Timothy 4:7-8 -- Exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
2. I can win “first prize.” No matter how good I may be at softball, basketball, or any other arena of competition, there will always be somebody better. Only one person can finish first and be the best. But in the Christian race, we can all finish “first.” Our success is not determined by what we did compared to what others did, but by our faithfulness. The famous Vince Lombardi said, “The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.” He also said, “Winning isn’t everything but wanting to win is.” In God’s eyes, how fast we can run or how high we can jump compared to others doesn’t matter. To Him, it’s about the heart. If we are doing the best we can with what He has given us at the things He has called us to do, and if we have an attitude that desires to do even more, then we get first prize.
3. The “crown of righteousness” will never fade away. Crowns from Christ don’t get buried in closets. 1 Corinthians 9:25 -- And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 1 Peter 1:3-4 -- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who…has begotten us again…to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away…”
