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