The following discussion is really a sequel to last month’s article on “failure.”  There is so much that can be said that it probably defies doing it in this format. But, I thought I would offer this in a spirit of encouragement to us all at this season of the year, whether we have had the experiences of failure and success or not. Christ came into the world to be our Redeemer and that extends to the circumstances of our lives.  In Him, you are a winner!

I Cor 9: 24

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.  

Winner

The Bible is filled with stories of men and women who succeeded in the face of adversity.  It is a major theme of Scripture; the idea that the blessing of winning and success comes through weakness, failure, danger, and hardship.  But, make no mistake, you were born to succeed, not to fail.  Setbacks may come in your life, but you were uniquely designed to win.  Your future is not locked-in by your past, but rather it is energized anew by who you are becoming in your relationship with Christ.

When God made man, He looked upon him and all else that He had created, and called it all good (Gen 1-2).  God thought it was so good that He decided to take a rest.  Now, let me just wonder with you as to why He would do that.  He clearly was not tired.  The Hebrew word used in Genesis 2:2 is Shavat or Shabath, and it does not mean to rest, but rather to cease labor because the task is finished.  He was done, and it was good.

I hope it will not stretch your theology too far if I imagine that, at some level, God was now admiring His creation, and crying, “Yes!”, a bit like the young athlete who makes the basket, or the touchdown, or the hole-in-one, who balls up his fist and pumps the air with that exclamation.  Yes, it is good, beautiful, best, complete, finished.  “Yes, it is perfectly designed for the purposes I have for it; to accomplish My will; to be successful; to win.” 

I see God as One who is concerned not just with beginnings and ends, but as One who is also intimately involved with all the particulars along the way, which Scripture tells us that He prepared beforehand (Eph 2:10).  So, with God, winning is not the opposite of losing or, put another way, losing is not the opposite of winning.

Here we come to the nub of the matter for us to consider during this Christmas season, which has a practical application to our lives.  God entered into the particulars of our lives in the only way He could that would not violate who He had created us to be.  He became one of us and became one with us.  He took on human flesh, with the entire frailty attendant upon that condition, to redeem us from our failure and to place us back into winning relationship with Him as He originally intended.  In Jesus, He demonstrated His victory over the adversaries of the Kingdom of Heaven, which victory was secured before the foundation of the earth. 

Did God ever lose?  Has He ever botched anything?  Was He ever a failure?  If you agree with me that He has not and is not, then what can we say about the work He has done in the world, and in you, and that He yet intends to do through you?  What can we say about your enterprises and adventures in life?  What about your family?  Your business or occupation?  Do you have any clue as to what He is up to in your life?  How deeply are you willing to inquire?

Following Jesus will take you on a life quest that may lead through failure as the world sees it, but that is not how God sees it for His Kingdom is not of this world.  Your pathway is not set by the rationales and worldviews of human perception and philosophy.

You are a child of the King, an overcomer, a joint-heir with Christ, and that includes all of the rights and privileges of a true son, an inheritor of royal robes and appointed to nobility.  He has entered you in the race.  Run your race so as to WIN and let God give the increase, never forgetting that victory is yours through the One who judges outcomes, all-in-all.

You are a man of valor whom God has called to a place in the starting line; so draw on His power, stand in and do it again, and again, all the better for having learned.  No one can fill that place exactly as you can.  And, you can do all that He has called you to do, in Jesus’ name (Phil 4:13), for He cannot fail and if He is a winner then so are you.

Phil 3:13b-14.
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.