WINNING IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

“Winning is better that not winning.” – Andy Stanley.

As Christians, what’s the win? If you don’t know what the win is, it’s hard to tell if you’re winning. And let me ask it this way. What’s the win in this season because in every season of life, there are different wins.

Wouldn’t that be a win to decide ahead of time and to order your life and to order your conduct and character in such a way that you define the win for who you are and who people perceive you to be? If you don’t know what you’re aiming for, right, you’ve heard it, you’ll hit it every time. You don’t want to draw a target on the barn because you shot first and then drew the target later, right?

The Apostle Paul, who directly or indirectly influenced our lives, had a mission statement.  He did shape all of our lives because of his words and because of his letters. Paul showed up in history as Saul of Tarsus and then he became a Jesus follower a pretty drastic conversion.

Paul’s win is found in his statement in 1 Corinthians. His win—and maybe you can relate to this, and this should be encouraging—what he decided the win was for his life was actually a response to a failure. It was a response to a loss in his life because he steps into history as someone who has decided to put out of business a Nazarene sect or a Nazarene cult that revolved around this Nazarene rabbi named Jesus.

So he started rounding up all the Christians and having them arrested. He had some of them tortured. Then, he meets the resurrected Jesus and realizes that he is working against God.

Here’s his win: He says he doesn’t deserve to be an apostle. I am who I am with all that baggage and with that stuff. I am what I am, and God’s grace to me was not without effect. In other words, God did not waste His time coming after me. God did not waste His time revealing Himself to me. And in 1 Corinthians, he explains what the win for his life is: “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:19-23).

It means that Paul determined, in his freedom in Christ, to serve others. Why did he do it? To win or save as many as possible. Paul’s priorities in life were to win others for Jesus. Not everyone you witness will become a believer. So, we don’t have an unrealistic goal of winning every one. Our goal is to win as many as possible. To bring as many people to heaven with us as we can. It is essential to run the race for every believer.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is a “win” in your life? 
2. Is winning those far from the heart of God the most important win?