Defeat

Defeat

I heard a quote one time saying, “You’re not a failure if you fail. You are a failure if when you fail you don’t get back up.” We all have moments of defeat in our lives. It may be a big business deal that falls through, a loss in a sporting event, and etcetera. There’s only one way to keep from being defeated on a regular basis and that’s by not participating. For those that participate the most, you will be defeated more often. For those that participate the most, you will earn victory more often as well.

Yesterday was a tough day for one of my Dallas Patriots baseball teams. We made it all the way to the final game of the World Series, and simply struggled in the championship. We didn’t play our best, thus the team we run ruled 8-0 the day before defeated us in the finals. Being that I expected to win, I didn’t have a “good try” speech prepared. Our boys had an amazing season finishing as the second best team in the country. The way I look at it, every other team wishes they were us except for the team that finished first! Our boys played 75 games in 63 days and won 65 of those games! They had an amazing year, and it was an absolute blessing and honor to coach them. Long story short those were my closing comments on the season.

As I look back over my spiritual journey, the loss we encountered would have hurt a lot more had my focus been on satisfying the temporal. I can honestly say that I wanted us to win the World Series for one major reason: the boys. They earned it and deserve it. Had we won, I would have sat in the dugout and simply watched them celebrate what they deserved. I’ve already had my share of Titles. I don’t need another World Series ring to give me a thrill. Here’s the realty of the situation…the comments I just made I don’t believe I could have said them just a few years ago. Reason being: I wanted to satisfy the world. I wanted to be the man! As I’ve grown in my spiritual journey I’ve learned you can’t satisfy the world. It doesn’t matter what you do or how you do it, there will always be people there to try to tear you down. Therefore, stay focused on satisfying your Lord and Savior and everything else will take care of itself. Do things with selfless motives, just as Christ did and preached. Jesus healed and saved many, and didn’t care about getting any accolades for doing so. He came on this earth to serve, not be served. If Jesus were the coach of a team, I’m sure he would find just as many teaching opportunities in the losses as he would in the wins.

Application:
1. Read Matthew Chapter 8:10-13
2. Think of times in your life where defeat starred you in the face…how did you respond?