Winning in the Game of life (Part V)

One of my sons’ favorite Bible stories was the story of David and Goliath. It has become my favorite story too, because in this story, a young shepherd boy, against all odds becomes the hero by killing a nine foot tall Giant that had terrorized a whole Nation. 

This monster of a man had brought the whole nation of Israel to a stand still. Even the King, Saul was paralyzed by fear as this man taunted the armies of Israel. What Saul saw as an obstacle, and a big one at that, David saw as an opportunity. As someone once said, “David saw Goliath not as a threat too big to hit, but as a target too big to miss.” Winners see opportunities in every difficult situation while losers see only the obstacles. This is what we talked about last week; having the right perspective in life.

This week we want to look at another key element that is required of us if we are going to win in the game of life. And that is PASSION. Passion is everything; our passions are what make us come alive. The apathetic person (one lacking passion in life) is a pathetic person. Young David so much wanted to have a go at this Giant that even the discouraging words of his elder brother Eliab, could not stop him. Even the King tried to stop him by telling him, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.” But the young lad David understood one great truth that we all have to know;

 “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight that matters, but the size of the fight in the dog that does”.

What is the size of the fight in you? In other words how badly do you want to win? This is what separates the boys from the men. The desire to win, passion is what separates the winners from the losers. According to Dr. John Maxwell, we all must answer three great questions in life:

1. What do we want?
2. Why do we want it?
3. How badly do we want it?

If you can answer those three great questions in life, then you are on the right track of winning in the game of life.

“Winning is not everything, but wanting to win is” – Vince Lombardi

Winning in the Game of life (Part IV)

Last week we a saw how important our perspective in life is if we are going to win in the game of life. The ten spies saw themselves as grasshoppers and the inhabitants of the land as Giants. But the other two spies, the minority, saw themselves and their situations differently. They were optimists; they admitted the facts before them but encouraged the people to go for it not withstanding the facts, the Giants in the land. They believed that they were well able to go in and possess the land in spite of the Giants there.

To them (the two spies), the Giants are what stood between them and their destiny. The Giants are the obstacles we constantly face when we set out to realize our goals. One valuable lesson in life is to learn to welcome difficulties and obstacles (the Giants) as valuable and inevitable on the way to success. These Giants come in different ways, they may be circumstances beyond your control or very influential people in your life who tell you what cannot be done and why it can’t be done.

Most of these naysayers judge as based on our past record or on our present realities. This past Sunday I was so blessed with the text that the preacher in my church used. He preached from Mark 10:46-52; the story of one blind Bartimaeus. This man so wanted to receive his sight that he shouted to draw our LORD’s attention. The crowd around rebuked him and tried to hash him down. But the more they tried to hash him the louder he shouted until he finally drew the Master’s attention. When He did, everyone who had been hashing him down suddenly became the ones who ushered him to the Healer and thus received his miracle.

Like that blind man, refuse to be cowed down by the crowd. Don’t listen to those who tell you, you can’t make it. See their opinions as indicators that you are on the right track. Ask any child and they will tell you the names of the two spies Joshua and Caleb. But you ask even the seemingly learned Bible scholars the names of the other ten and they will really have to scratch their heads hard to even name one of them.

And so when it comes to winning in the game of life you don’t have to be a democrat. Here it is not about the majority ruling but about you doing what you know is right even if it means standing alone like the two spies did.

“Your hashers will become your ushers.” – Pastor Paul Nzimbi

Winning in the game of life (Part III)

Someone once said that "you see what you are". One of the things that I have struggled with a long time in my life is that I have found my self most of the time being a pessimist rather than an optimist. They say that the difference between a pessimist and an optimist is that the former says that a glass is half empty while the latter says that the glass is half full when observing the same glass of water. The difference between the two is only in one thing, their perspective.

As we learnt last week, how we run the right race is as important as the race itself. We are to run with perseverance the race marked out for us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Not only are we to run with perserverance but also with the right perspective. I want to emphasize the importance of having a proper perspective with a story from the Bible.

The story is about the Nation of Israel preparing themselves to enter into their promised land, into their destiny. Their Leader Moses sent out 12 spies each spy a Leader themselves representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Their mission was to go out and spy the land that they were to inherit bringing back with them tangible evidence of the goodness of that land. After accomplishing their mission, they all came back bearing the evidence of the goodness of the land. But ten of them gave a discouraging report about how there were Giants in the land and how they saw themselves as Grasshoppers in the sight of these Giants.

These ten were pessimists. Their perspective of themselves was the beginning of their fall. They failed to have the right perspective of themselves due to their grasshopper mentality. The quality of our thoughts determine our perspective in life and thus determine whether we will win or lose in the game of life. How do you see yourself? Are you seeing yourself as a grasshopper or as a Giant killer (notice I didn't say a Giant but a Giant killer)? Those who see themselves as grasshoppers lose the fight even before they start while those that have made it first saw themselves making it long before they actually made it. For us to win in the game of life needs us to undergo a personal transformation. Change must be inside out not the other way round. It is as you undergo that transformation