We Don't LoseSample

We All Want to Win

Nobody enjoys losing. We feel that since childhood. I remember when my son Sebastian was five and started playing for his first soccer team in Sydney, Australia. A friend and I decided to coach the team. Poor kids… two football fanatics coaching them as if they were Barcelona in the Champions League.

At first, they won every game. But then came their first loss. Sebastian and many of his teammates ended up in tears. My wife stepped in like Wonder Woman and said, “Son, don’t worry, it’s not about winning or losing, it’s about having fun.”

I walked over and asked Seba, “Do you like losing?” He said, “No, Dad.” “Do you like crying because you lost?” “No, Dad.” So I replied, “Then don’t lose again!” And I looked at my wife like saying, who plays just to have fun? We play to win.

That story reflects something deeper: we all want to win. But Jesus confronts us with an even greater paradox: “Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?’” (Mark 8:34–36, NLT)

This passage confronts us with a radical truth: the Kingdom of God doesn't operate by the world's standards. What seems like loss to our eyes can actually become eternal gain.

In God’s Kingdom, victory isn’t measured by temporary success but by eternal life. What the world considers defeat can be, in Christ, the greatest victory.

Reflection Questions:

• What does “winning” mean to me at this stage of my life?
• What things am I chasing today that might be distracting me from what really matters to God?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me understand that my true victory is found in following You. Teach me to value the eternal above the temporary, and to live each day with my eyes fixed on Your Kingdom. In Jesus’ name, amen.