Losing can be winning.

Football legend Vince Lombardi is quoted as saying, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." And there’s something to that. It's hard enough for most of us remembering past winners of Super Bowls, World Series, etc., without trying to recall the other team. For many, “second-place” is just another word for “loser.”

We know that many people can get carried away with the desire to win, maybe to the point of cheating, maybe being overly competitive in everyday life, seeing contests for supremacy where none exist. And even without such excess, losing is never something that people celebrate or look forward to.

So it’s hard for most to think of “losing” as possibly a good thing, to say nothing of being something we can all learn a great deal from. But according to the Bible, certain kinds of “loss” can be quite profitable, even desirable. Let me offer a few biblical advantages of what most of us work hard to avoid.

First, losing can be winning when you accept loss of personal ambitions to share in God's will for your life. Jesus said, "Whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it.” (Matthew 16:25)

Holding on forever to personal agendas, ambitions and dreams can lead to frustration, and may also bring disappointment, even when such dreams are realized. That’s because God has a plan and purpose for every person in the world, but it’s not a plan for personal fulfillment or success. His plan is centered on knowing Jesus Christ as the “Way, the Truth, and the Life.” His plan is aimed at the ultimate redemption of fallen human beings and the glorification of His grace in doing so.

Letting go of personal ambitions can feel very unsettling, but is most often a necessary step toward experiencing God’s purpose for our lives. We don’t by nature yield our plans or life goals to anyone, not even God. And we are much more likely to ask to support “my will be done,” rather than confidently surrendering to “Thy will be done.” But when we choose the life God has planned for us, we truly find life as it was meant to be.

Second, losing can be winning when you accept loss of personal well-being to share in God’s power. After a prolonged struggle with an affliction he called simply, “a thorn in the flesh,” Paul finally heard God’s response to his prayers for its removal. “He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) So convincing was this divine answer that Paul found an insight that escapes most people, saying, “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am
strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10)

Holding on to the desire for personal well-being can lead to selfishness and lust, as human beings tend to have an insatiable appetite for profit and power, no matter how much or how little they may have. It seems nigh unto impossible, even for someone like the apostle Paul, to peacefully accept personal weakness and poverty.

Letting go of personal welfare can feel very uncomfortable, but is often a necessary step toward experiencing God’s strength for our lives. God has an experience of true spiritual strength that includes victory over temptation and the ability to manifest consistent character qualities like love, joy, peace and other spiritual fruit, and to do so under conditions that most people would it impossible to do so. When we choose God’s power, even in the midst of great personal weakness, we find power to be fully human as God intended us to be.

Finally, losing can be winning when you are able to accept loss of personal happiness to share in God's blessing. Jesus defined true blessing when He said, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.” (Luke 6:20-21)

Holding on to the desire for personal happiness can lead to much disappointment, as well as strife, envy and resentment, especially if it seems that someone else is better off, and isn’t as “deserving” of happiness as ourselves. Doing without isn’t something that most feel comfortable with, unless maybe they’re deliberately sacrificing things for the sake of spiritual, moral or ethical principles. But martyrs aren’t always the happiest people; some are just principled.

Letting go of personal happiness and prosperity can feel very helpless, but is generally a necessary step toward experiencing God’s blessing for our lives. If Jesus was right (and that’s a safe bet!), then real blessing of the soul comes to those who are content to have whatever this world brings them, even if that’s poverty, hunger and weeping, because they trust in God’s care and provision for them. When we allow God to make us rich in spirit, satisfied in soul and rejoicing in heart, we learn the real meaning of blessing.

In the end, the only “losers” in life will be those who miss out on the chance to experience real life, real strength and real blessing in the center of God’s will for them through Jesus Christ. Compared to that, a million Super Bowl rings would be “chump change.”