“You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win.” (I Corinthians 9:24 The Message Bible)
It’s halftime at a high school basketball game, a game that is part of a single-elimination tournament. You lose, you are out. You win, you live to play another game, and the pursuit of a championship continues.
In the locker room of the team picked to win the championship, the overwhelming choice to be victorious, there is silence in the air. Players are sitting around with towels over their heads or around their necks. Many turn down the bottles of Gatorade offered to them by the student managers. It seems like an invisible cloud had descended over the locker room, probably because this team that was favored was behind by double-digit points.
The coach has not entered the locker room. His delay only increased the players’ stress level, for they knew they had it coming. They wait and they wait. Time has passed slowly, from the players’ perspective. There are only five minutes left before halftime is over and the game resumes. It is still quiet, quieter than when young kids, rowdy, rambunctious, ready to talk until dawn, react to an adult coming in and telling the sleepover kids to go to sleep. You may have heard these types of words before, words that produce utter silence, “Be quiet! Go to sleep! Not another sound!”
It is that quiet when suddenly the head coach walks in the locker room with his assistants behind him, standing with their arms crossed across their chests, looking like bodyguards or members of the federal secret service. The head coach does not give a long speech. He simply says, “I’m going to ask you one question, and I’ll see you back on the floor.” Then he poses a question with a puzzling look on his face, “Why are we in this tournament?” Allowing no time for a response, not waiting for any answer, the coach throws his balled up game statistic sheet on the ground with enough force to put a dent in the grey, concrete floor, and he exits the locker room, slamming the door as he leaves. The grey floor was fitting for it matched the color of the figurative cloud that had descended over the team.
One of the players stands up and gathers his team members in a huddle. Standing in the center of the circle, he says, “Do you know why we are here? Do you know what we came to do?” One of the players says, rather sheepishly, “We are here to win.” The self-appointed leader, still standing in the center of the circle says, “Exactly! We are in it to win it!”
He keeps repeating the same phrase, “We are in it to win it,” escalating his voice with each repeated phrase. He does so until the players are hyped up and the figurative cloud had been displaced by a bright spirit of confidence. They had a new attitude, a winning attitude, and instead of losing, making a long story short, they come from behind and win the game by a great margin. They live to play another game!
Well, here it is my friend. You are not in a game, but you are running in a Christian race. That’s your “game.” So, here is a little motivation especially for you. You have been blessed to be “in” another day. You have to go back “in” the game of life, which is really not a game at all, and you must go “in” this new day with the right attitude!
Your attitude, the right attitude, will take you to an altitude where you will win the day and give glory to God. Your right attitude or righteous attitude as you face a new day, if you have not guessed it yet, reflects a personal commitment “I am in it to win it.” Let me be like the leader of the team in the short story above. “Exactly! You are in it to win it!” “You are in it to win it!” “You are in it to win !” Go ahead now! No griping! No giving up! No grey clouds stopping you!
You can do it! I’m confident; I’m positive, I’m sure that you will overcome all that is in your way! I can feel it! You will have a great victory today! For I am sure you will stay God-conscious, Christ centered, and let the Spirit of God constantly convict you that with the Lord on your side, there is no losing on this day!
Appropriately, when you get back home at the end of the day, celebrate by praising God who gave you the victory! Oh, you will face some things today, but have the attitude found in the closing verse. Be blessed!
“No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” (Romans 8:37 NLT)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King