The Big Win

As athletes, we have a strong desire to compete-whether we’re trying to make the team, set a personal best, win a championship, or simply outplay our buddies in a friendly game of one-on-one. When you look back, it’s probably hard to think of a time when you didn’t enjoy competition. For the serious athlete, the competitive spirit seems wired into our DNA-and that’s because it is. God gives us the desire to achieve great things in the first place. He knows that the athlete’s heart is never satisfied until victory is achieved. God uses that very fact to draw us closer to Him. As we work for excellence in sports ad all other areas of life, we eventually realize that true satisfaction doesn’t come from winning trophies, medals, applause, or high-dollar contracts. True satisfaction comes from having a personal relationship with our Creator. Athletic success can be a great way to share the truth of Jesus and new life with others. But no achievement or award can equal the rush of satisfaction of discovering new life-real life in Jesus.
The Bible often refers to our new life as Christ-followers in athletic and even military terms, comparing it to a competition or a battle. Ephesians 2:1-9 highlights three major differences between the prizes earned here on Earth and the ultimate prize our salvation brings us: a personal relationship with our Creator and the God of all.
Verse 1 to 4 reads “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy”
Difference 1: This ultimate prize of salvation is based solely on God’s extreme love for us.
Verse 5 to 7 reads “made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  
Difference 2: We are saved by grace.
Verse 8 to 9 reads “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Difference 3: We are saved through faith.
God doesn’t stop with saving us from judgment. He also elevates us to a level of greatness on His team, lavishing us with immeasurable riches in His kingdom.
Romans 8:17 “Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his suffering in order that we may also share in his glory.”
The word “suffer” seems out of place in the Romans 8:17 discussions about being glorified as sons and daughters of God. Yet, in sports, great success is never free. There’s always a significant price to be paid and subsequent responsibilities that come with the territory. And while our salvation is assured when we accept Jesus by faith, that game is not over. We’re still in the race and the enemy is hot on our heels.