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In the game of faith, all who look to Christ are winners |
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Wednesday, 09 April 2008 |
Rev. John C. Blackford
Religion Columnist
Early spring in our part of the world is a wonderful time. There are signs of new life everywhere, with their promise of colorful growth and abundance.
And it’s also tournament time when teams — primarily basketball, hockey and wrestling — culminate winter efforts by many youth and adults, and the top performers come together to decide which are the best.
One observer recently wrote: “As the players swarmed one another after their first-round victory at the Girl’s State High School basketball tournament, I noticed that the elation was shared equally by the stars and by the girls who didn’t get into the game. The richness of the experience was not diluted by a sentiment from the girls at the end of the bench that they should have been playing.
“Whether or not they played in the game, they certainly had a role in the team’s making the tournament. They scrimmaged against one another throughout the year, challenging the starters to play their best. They gave one another needed rest during the blowout victories, high fives and hugs during tight games, and most important, a sense of team that transcended individual glory.” (Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 30, 2008).
The above commentator was writing in the Business Section of the newspaper, and went on to apply it to financial planning problems and strategies.
However, the principles he mentioned in dealing with finance issues are applicable to concerns about what is vital in life, and being a real winner.
This summer the Olympic Games will be held in China. They hark back to the athletic contests of ancient Greece, where they were held every four years in the Plain of Olympia.
The modern revival of the Olympics took place in Athens, Greece in 1896. Since then they have been held at four-year intervals except during World War I and II.
The Apostle Paul alluded to these games in what may have been his last words before being executed. He wrote in II Timothy 4:7: “I have fought the good fight (literally, “I have wrestled the good wrestling”), I have finished the race (a reference to the foot races), I have kept the faith.”
In the next verse, verse 8, Paul, who could perhaps see from his prison cell the executioner sharpening the axe for his decapitation, declared triumphantly: “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day.” (This was a reference to the laurel wreath placed on the heads of winners in the Grecian games).
In our tournaments only one team can be the ultimate winner.
Then, a year later, usually another team comes out on top. So glory is fleeting, even for the best.
In the latter part of the verse cited above the Apostle promises the crown is “not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his (Christ’s) appearing.” Unlike the laurel wreath, this crown is lasting.
In tournaments, there can be only one victor; in the “game” of faith all who look to Christ are winners.
In his article in the financial pages of the newspaper, the writer, after giving excellent financial planning counsel, returns to the tournament theme, and refers to the discontent that arises for some who do no planning, that is, who back away from “being on the team.”
He quotes a wise scholar who said, “If there is a cure, what good is discontent? If there is no cure, what good is discontent?”
And he comments, “If we spend our time grumbling about why we are not in the game, we don’t get a share in the celebration when it is all over.”
If this conclusion is true for our financial wellbeing, how much more is it true for things that are eternal. It’s Tournament Time in more ways than one!
The Bible passages are from the New International Version.
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