Know How to Win

Anybody with any kind of spunk at all plays to win. That is the purpose of the game. But when someone wins, someone loses. It is good, then, to know how to win. And by knowing how to win we don't just mean making the best score or crossing the goal line first. We mean how to act in the moment of victory.

We all know fellows and girls who are "hard losers." They get angry, accuse the winner of cheating, make all kinds of excuses for losing, and vow to get even the next time. We know good losers, too. But how do you win? Do you strut about and let everyone admire you? Do you get a swelled head and offer to give your opponent lessons in how to play the game? Or do you humbly congratulate him for playing a good game? A lot of people are watching the winner, and he has to walk a very narrow line.

A good winner is humble. He is glad that he won but he also realizes that he did not win all by himself. Even the loser helped him to win. Maybe you have been on the losing end for a long, long time, then suddenly find yourself out in front at the end of the game. Then cones the real test—how to act like a true winner.

Read the story of Joseph in your Bible sometime and study how he finally won out over his jealous brothers. They sold him into slavery; he was imprisoned for something he didn't do, and he suffered there for many years. But when he suddenly rose to a position of power in Egypt he held no grudges against those who had wronged him. He realized that they had actually helped him to rise to the top.

Help me, O God, to be wise in defeat and kind in victory.