How and what we win strongly affect the person we become. We normally imagine becoming happier, more fulfilled, and the likes. Nothing wrong, just not that simple.

I find it ironic that when it comes to winning, one may set good goals. But there is something about the pursuit of winning that often turns on our insecurity and dulls our moral compass and reasoning. Time and again, even kings and officials, intellectual giants and religious leaders falter. Is it just because we still equate winning with material abundance, like the best “toys”? Or it shows we don’t understand what real winning entails?

When we break it down, there are actually two spheres involved in each winning. The physical and the spiritual. So we can be physically rich but spiritually poor, and vice versa. The rich could end up covetous, and the poor turn into thieves. Both suffer from acute sense of need, poverty of the soul.
“For success and happiness do what you like is a lie.” Remember He said “The wise man builds his house upon the rock”? To the believers, He is the rock for He speaks the truth.

Unemployment, rising prices, crime, and teen dysphoria to name a few. In light of the difficulties and competitions in life, He said ” In this world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage, for I have overcome the world.” Our response to these is not to hate, kill, steal or destroy, nor to cower in fear, compromise or commit suicide, but to overcome. Because the goal of winning is not so much getting, but becoming.

The right way always prepares, protects, and preserves. He said “blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” That is when we become the person molded for that which even money can’t buy. Indeed, winning entails we grow up first. The measure of success has to do with what we have, yet it is not what meets the eye. We need to count what we give up, like shedding dead skin, and not just our blessings or immediate gains. For Jesus said “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain.”

To cap it all, we have a part to play, not as one handcuffed looking for handouts. but who has one hand in the plough and the other one in prayer. Then we become like “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.” Not just finding it, but satisfyingly good. In summary, though we can’t be certain of winning in both levels, the way that entails the dying to self guarantees the latter, which bears the fruit of righteousness in us, enabling one to overcome the rest. In other words, become a real winner.
Quick check: Is there anything I need to examine and change in my understanding of winning?