Winning and Losing

Some sports fans readily know what I mean by the phrase "March Madness." This has long been the identifiable label that CBS assigns to the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. If you do follow this sporting event you know how quickly people's brackets were wiped out by unheard of teams finding a way to beat the top teams that everyone expected to make it all the way. It goes to show how difficult it can be to predict winning and losing.

In our world, winners are applauded and compensated well while those who "Lose" when the world is watching are forgotten, questioned, analyzed, and certainly criticized. The older I get the more disdain I have for the people who wear the headsets and seem determined to give some deep psychological evaluation on every single move the players make. My Dad says that they must get paid by the word! (OK I am detracting just a bit; sorry) Everybody loves the WINNER! Loyalty is challenged when our team is not winning. Coaches are criticized and even villified. One football coach of a major university decided to leave his position for another one and people rioted in the town where this school is located. HOW SAD!

So, what possible point am I trying to make? (I kind of got lost in my rantings too) Today has long been referred to as "GOOD FRIDAY" by the Evangelical Church. As I began my day in prayer and meditation on the significance of what this day Commemorates -- i.e. The Sacrificial Death of Jesus Christ to compensate for the sins of the world -- it occurred to me how all the evidence for those who witnessed His gruesome death suggested that HE WAS THE LOSER! While it remains a TRAGEDY that this Innocent, Divine Man had to suffer so greatly because of something we are guilty of, after the physical experience was over, JESUS actually was the WINNER! He accomplished something incredible by His death! He beat SIN/Death on its own turf.

It occurs to me that, in light of how outward evidence suggested Jesus was losing when in actuality HE was accomplishing something that surpasses explanation, there is a variant perspective on the challenges and trials we experience in this world. Jesus said that the "first shall be last and the last shall be first." What He meant was that, for those who willingly and enthusiastically put everything aside to pursue a relationship with Him, while they may appear to the world to be losers, they are actually winning on a level greater than most people even know exists.

The EASTER MESSAGE/MIRACLE is not merely an historical event for us to marvel about, celebrate once a year, or whatever other response is extended to what is called Easter. Instead, EASTER is about WINNING AT LIFE! It is about a POWER-SOURCE that exceeds anything that can be purchased or manufactured by man's brilliance. Maybe some of the things that enter our consciousness are more about our WINNING than LOSING! Maybe we are living in the midst of something incredible that is the anti-thesis of what our world classifies as WINNING! I'm not talking about a "Crutch" to lean on when explanations are impossible to find. I am talking about something that is so real that you can only grasp it by experiencing it.

I encourage you to stretch beyond your limitations and ingest the ever-living power of the Christ who was dead but WHO is now alive!!! WINNING is just one prayer away.