Elongate the “o” and give the “s” a distinctly “z” pronunciation and you will hear my four-year-old grandson’s definition of second place. You win or “looze.” There is no second place. Fortunately, at his age, a loss is quickly forgotten and new conquests are undertaken.

We teach our children good sportsmanship—that winning is not everything. So long as we do our best, even a participation ribbon is perfectly acceptable. We were in the game and did our part. That, in itself, develops character.

However, winning is everything in the spiritual battle in which we are all participants. Second place is not acceptable. You win or you lose. There is no middle ground. Jesus spoke of a broad way leading to destruction and a narrow way leading to life (Mt. 7:13-14). Following Judgment, some “will go away into eternal punishment” and some will go away “into eternal life” (Mt. 25:48). Winning is everything.

Apart from Christ, we do not have the power to win. It is not within us to think our way into that better place (Prov. 14:12; Jer. 10:23; 1 Cor. 1:21). Nor, can we earn our way to heaven (Is. 64:6). For “all have sinned…” and “the wages of sin is death” (Rm. 3:23; 6:23). In our bleakest night, while we were dead in sin—without hope and without God in this world—we were raised up with Christ and saved by the grace and mercy of God (Eph. 2:1, 4-6, 12; Col. 2:12).

It is by means of spiritual rebirth that we gain the victory that has overcome the world (1 Jn. 5:4). As His child, we are no longer powerless because Christ, who lives in us, is our “hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). We remain confident in the ongoing struggle against sin because He is our advocate and intercessor (1 Jn. 2:1; Hb. 7:25). And, we know that victory is ours because “greater is He who is in [us] than he who is in the world” (1 Jn. 4:4). In Christ, we win. Without Him, we lose.

–Glen Elliott–