Oh, the agony of defeat!

First, it happened Thursday evening in our softball match-up. We lost the first game to Bentonville Church of Christ by a decent margin, but we were pounded the second game 26—3. Ouch! I’m guessing about nine other guys are wishing I just wouldn’t have brought it up.

Then, it happened again last night as the Razorbacks gave up a touchdown in the last couple of minutes of the game to lose to Alabama in a gut-wrenching defeat. I’m guessing a few hundred thousand fans are wishing I wouldn’t bring that up either.

So what do we learn from losing? First, we learn that it stinks! But we also learn to regroup, to sharpen and hone our skills, to get our heads back in the game, and to try a little harder next time.

God doesn’t want you living in spiritual defeat. He’s called you to be “more than a conqueror!” But the greatest spiritual conquerors I know have suffered some losses… and they have become all the better because of the lessons learned. So when you lose… learn! But strive for the victory today!

Let all things be done decently and in order.” -1 Corinthians 14:40

The spirit of mediocrity smothers and suffocates us. Perfectionism is an equally deadly extreme, but settling for second is not an option. We seem to live in a world of “good enough.” As long as it’s good enough to get by, it’s okay with us.

In the movie Remember the Titans, the T. C. Williams football team has worked hard all year to be near-perfect. They have come down to the championship game against the legendary coach Ed Henry and after the first half, they are floundering. Coach Boone gives them permission to lose but to walk off the field with their heads held high. He is interrupted by one of the star players who asserts, “Coach, you demanded perfection. I’m not perfect and none of us is, but together, as a team, we’re perfect.” For Coach Boone and T. C. Williams, losing was simply not an option. They had to win.

Where is that great spirit of conquest and excellence in our age? When will we decide that it’s worth it to go the extra mile? I don’t encourage people to beat themselves up over not being perfect, but I also don’t think anyone needs to settle for simply getting by. Whatever you do, do it well. Wherever you work, work hard. When you pray, pray long. When you sing, sing loudly (singing well may not even be an option for you). Give it all you’ve got!!

Paul communicated that our worship must be carried out in excellence. I must admit I struggle with perfectionism, so I’m especially frustrated with tardiness and half-heartedness. I’ve come to realize that we should strive for perfection, accept our weaknesses, learn from our mistakes, laugh when we fall, and then we must get up and strive for perfection again. As one old gospel song puts it…

Hear ye the Master’s call, “Give Me thy best!”
For, be it great or small, that is His test.
Do then the best you can, not for reward,
Not for the praise of men, but for the Lord.

Every work for Jesus will be blest,
But He asks from everyone his best.
Our talents may be few, these may be small,
But unto Him is due our best, our all.

I must say that yesterday was one of the most stressful days of my ministry thus far at Bethel. It seemed as though God had a bulleted list of tests for me to take. Last night as I sat through the church-wide interview with our potential Associate Pastor, my mind was taken to a familiar passage of Scripture, 1 Peter 5:6-7, which says, “Humle yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” (ESV)

I thought back to my earliest days of preaching when I would sit nervously on the front pew before approaching the pulpit. I would read these verses and the Holy Spirit would bring a sense of calm over my soul. When these “piles of anxieties” come, we have the ability to thrown them on God’s great big shoulders. That doesn’t mean we don’t have to deal with reality. It does mean, however, that we can trust God to carry us through them, expect His intervention, and allow Him to handle the results.

One of my greatest sources of anxiety is the fear of losing the approval of other people. I find myself looking over my shoulder to see who is looking over it in return. But when we take this anxiety to God He can remind us that He’s the only one “with whom we have to do (give account).” I also feel anxiety when too many tasks compete for my mental and emotional attention. But when we throw this anxiety upon God He reminds us that He gave us exactly twenty-four hours in a day and exactly twenty-four hours of heavenly assignments (including rest). If we can’t do it all, it wasn’t all meant to get done… at least not today.

My favorite part of the passage is the last part of verse seven. “He cares for you.” It’s directly connected to the thought that He wants to carry our anxieties. He cares about the things that stress us out and He wants to teach us the great life lesson that nothing really deserves as much attention in our lives as His Son Jesus Christ. Anxiety provides competition for worship. When we’re stressed, we aren’t meditating on God’s perfect Word. But when we begin with the solitude of silence before God, our stresses are manageable.

Are you stressed out today? Why not test God’s faithfulness to this promise? Cast your pile of anxieties upon Him… He cares for you, too!

”Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” –Hebrews 12:15-17

One of the hardest truths of Christianity to grasp is the teaching that there is a point of rejecting the will of God beyond which a man may never find repentance. Sin hardens the heart toward the things of God. When we are young, our hearts are tender, which explains in part why so many believers today came to Christ as children. As people progress through life without responding to God, His voice grows steadily silent to their souls. Eventually, through the deceitfulness of sin, their hearts are seared over and they will never repent.

The illustration of this is Esau, who made two decisions to reject God’s will for his life that he could never take back. Though he wept bitterly over his loss, he alone was to blame for losing his blessing and his birthright. God gives to us every moment of our lives in which to turn to Him in repentance and respond to Him by faith. But each time we say “no” to God, we inch our way closer to the point after which we will never say “yes.”

God’s door is always open and anyone who ever repents of sin and trusts Christ as Savior will be received by the Lord. But beware of the point at which the Spirit of God moves on to other hearts and the soul is so embittered that it will never again respond favorably to the gospel.

This truth is essential for Christians as well as unbelievers. Paul’s greatest fear was that he might preach to others but himself be a “castaway” or be put on the shelf by God. God is loving, gracious, and forgiving, but a vessel which may no longer be used effectively for His glory is cast to the side. We’ve all seen the wasted ruins of a man of God turned aside to immorality and given to indulgence of the flesh. Let us beware, lest the same end should come to us.

Keep your heart tender and soft to the will of God. Remain yielded. Seek His righteousness and holiness, and keep the communication lines open with the Holy Spirit within. Finally, allow repentance to be a daily, even moment-by-moment exercise of the soul before God.