As football season begins I am reminded of Vince Lombardi, a legendary football coach who famously said, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” But shortly before his death he said, “I wish I’d never said the [darned] thing. I meant the effort…I meant having a goal…I sure as [heck] didn’t mean to crush…values.” We are a nation that worships success, whether in athletics or music, movies or business, we aspire to economic and professional success.

This worship of success even infects Christianity, not just with the size of churches or worship attendance or financial statements, but with our spiritual lives. We think our faith should be stronger, our thoughts should be purer, our compassion should be everlasting. We forget that failure and disappointment are a part of life even for Christians. Jesus did not feed every hungry person, did not heal every sick person, and his disciples denied, betrayed and deserted him.

Was Jesus’ mission and ministry successful? How do we want to define success? Did everyone come to believe and accept God’s grace? Did wars cease? Injustice? Prejudice? Hate? Poverty?

Our faithfulness isn’t measured in ‘winning the race’ but in ‘finishing the race,’ in ‘keeping the faith’ (2 Timothy 4:7), and sharing the good news of God’s grace.

Sadly in sports and in life we see many people who sacrifice integrity because ‘winning’ has become their idol.

The victory of Jesus was not in the number of converts, people fed, or persons healed, it is in his resurrection, a victory that has nothing to do with the score in life and everything to do with the values of God. And the value of God is that nothing separates us from Him, not even sin or death. That’s the victory of Jesus, given to all who believe.

Donn