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