Winning at Life

“He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant.”    —Philippians 2:7

My grandson’s baseball league has already concluded, but my 3 almost 4 year-old granddaughter’s T-ball league is in full swing (pun intended). There are only two teams in the league so they play each other every game. Both teams use the same dugout so the fielding team must wait in the field for the batting team to exit before entering the bench area. Everyone bats. Each batter gets a single. At the end of each inning (they only play 2), all those on base run the whole way home. Everyone wins.

Robert Roberts (Taking the Word to Heart, 156) writes about a fourth grade class where a teacher introduced a game called “balloon stomp.” A balloon was tied to every child’s leg. The object of the game was to pop everyone else’s balloon while protecting your own. The last person with an intact balloon wins. There is only one winner; everyone else loses. Fourth graders can become very aggressive and soon learn that in order to complete their mission they must be pushy, rude, and offensive.

Another class was introduced to the same game, but this time it was a class of mentally challenged children. They were given the same instructions, but when the game began, it proceeded quite differently. The instructions were given too quickly for the children to grasp, but they did understand that the balloons were supposed to be popped. Instead of fighting each other, they began helping each other pop balloons. One little girl knelt down and held her balloon carefully in place, like a holder for a field goal kicker while a little boy stomped it flat. Then he knelt down and held his balloon for her. It went on like this for several minutes until all the balloons were vanquished, and everybody cheered. Everybody won.

Competitive sports can be fun to watch and play, but what we learn on the athletic field often carries over to the game of life. We push others down as we climb ladders to positions of success and victory. We keep score in a variety of ways: who has the biggest house, who has the longest title, or who makes the most money? We seldom keep score by asking: who has the most friends, who has helped the most people, or who has the most inner peace? I recently came across an interesting quote in a word puzzle, “It's incredibly easy to get caught up … climbing the ladder of success only to discover it's leaning against the wrong wall” (Steven Covey).

The problem with climbing up the ladder of success is that you will go right past Jesus, who is going down. Philippians 2:5-11 teaches that Jesus began at the very top, “being in the very nature God” (6).  Jesus gave up his right to the top spot and began a downward track taking on flesh and blood; He became human with human weaknesses and limitations. Jesus went lower, “he humbled himself” (8), and even lower, “became obedient to death” (9). Jesus’ ultimate task wasn't some glamorous achievement for He went to the very lowest rung, “even death on a cross” (9). For Jesus, the ultimate winner is the one who serves.

As you push and shove to the top of the ladder of success, remember Jesus started at the top and moved down to a position of humble service. Are you are seeking to win by destroying others or are you seeking to serve by helping others win.