Have Rock-Solid Faith That Your Team Will Win
Fan loyalty is the name of the football game for Ed, my old neighbor in Saskatchewan. Ed insists: “You cheer for your team with all the enthusiasm of a fox in a packed, hen house. The opposing team is to be ignored; their interceptions, touchdowns, and field goals are fluke luck. There are other football teams, but the Saskatchewan Roughriders are better than all the rest with or without the Grey Cup.â€
Ed is faithful to the Roughriders. Their success or lack of it does not change his loyalty towards them. When they lose, he says that losing makes winning even more satisfying when it comes. Ed says that winning or losing doesn’t cost him much as a fan, it means much more to those on the playing field. Mistakes and injuries there may end a player’s career. My old neighbor wisely believes that even winning the Grey Cup does not make your team invincible, but only the best for the present season.
Winning or losing can be powerful experiences for some folks. The label winner or loser can be taken as a personal characteristic. Donald Trump has been quoted as saying: “My whole life is about winning. I don’t lose often. I almost never lose.â€
A different attitude towards winning is displayed in a quote from Justin Trudeau: “Who cares about winning? We should focus on serving.â€
On my curling team some play only to win and some play more for fun and exercise. Team skips prefer players intent on winning. I have observed that at church folks are divided on how people are losers and winners before God. In spite, of the doctrinal statements and church teachings, the question of who is in with God and who is not, seems to be a matter of individual opinion.
Many will agree God the Father sent his Son into the world to save sinners. God’s word on this is well known. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.â€
Winning with God according to God’s word is believing (Having faith/trust) in Jesus Christ because he loved us and gave himself for each of us as sinners. To win before God, one must be convinced that they are no different from others, in that, we are all sinners before the Holiness of God.
Only Jesus was able to keep all of God’s laws perfectly, only Jesus was able to remain sinless here on earth.
Eve was tempted to believe she could be like God. She found that she was able to see good and evil, life and death. Her hope was in her offspring to undo evil and death that came because she was deceived by Satan. Jesus, the Son of God, turned evil and death into a victory for those who have faith in him.
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.†Some feel if they could see Jesus or God then they would then have faith. What they need to see for themselves are their own sins and their sinful nature before they will have the desire for faith in Jesus the Savior of sinners.