Mark 8:34-9:1, NIV - Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are
standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has
come with power.”
There is a piece of wisdom in
sports that is the negative restatement of the popular saying, “play to win.” I first heard it from my baseball coach when
I was 12 years old. My team, the Dodgers,
were in the Jacksonville city tournament and we were one win away from being in
the championship game. About halfway
through the game, we were 2 runs ahead.
I think the possibility that we might be on the cusp of being in the
last game for the Jacksonville city title set in and we had a nervous and shaky
inning where our opponents got a run. We
were now only one run ahead and we were feeling the pressure. Coach Ramsdale gathered the team at the edge
of the dugout and made the following statement.
“You all are here because you are a
talented team that has played to win all season long; but right now, you’re playing not-to-lose. There is a big difference between those two
ways of playing.”
Playing not-to-lose. When
you play that way, you are more concerned with avoiding mistakes than playing
to the best of your ability. The goal
becomes protecting your lead instead of doing what got you the lead in the
first place. Worst of all, playing not-to-lose
is way more stressful than playing to win because you become worried about what
might happen in the future instead of being focused on what IS happening right
now. Generally, playing not-to-lose ends
up being a losing strategy.
I know
it’s a sports metaphor, but playing not-to-lose in life is also a losing
strategy, as Jesus is trying to drive home in the passage above. If you spend
your whole life trying not-to-die, you end up not really living. If you become consumed by what will happen
after your life is over, you miss the life right in front of you. Jesus is trying to explain to the disciples
(who don’t want to hear it) that He is going to be killed and rise again. But He isn’t going to be stopped by fear of
what will happen to Him; He is living to win, not living not-to-lose. Jesus invites all who follow Him to live the
same way. To close out this reflection, read
the same passage above, but this time in “The Message” version:
Calling the crowd to join his
disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead.
You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it.
Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is
the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to
get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade
your soul for?
“If any of you are embarrassed over
me and the way I’m leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused
friends, know that you’ll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man
when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the
holy angels.”
Then he drove it home by saying,
“This isn’t pie in the sky by and by. Some of you who are standing here are
going to see it happen, see the kingdom of God arrive in full force.” (Mark 8:34-9:1, The Message)
Question: I what ways
do we live “not-to-lose” rather than living knowing that we have already won?
Prayer: God, thank
you for offering us eternal life and eternal victory over darkness. Knowing that victory is already secured, help
us to live in ways that embrace present sufferings and make sacrifices for Your
inbreaking Kingdom instead of protecting what we have. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for students (primary, college, graduate schools) you know today.
Song: Lose My Soul –
TobyMac (featuring Kirk Franklin)
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