Like many of you, I have a favorite professional football team, and then I have teams that are my next favorites and then those I enjoy seeing lose.
This year every team that would fit into any of these categories have already lost in the playoffs, which of course means they are not going to the Super Bowl.
There are people I read about or may know personally who really get upset when their team loses. They may not sleep that night, or they may have a horrible few days at work following the loss.
A few years ago I got caught up in a disappointing loss of a high school basketball team that was supposed to do great things but got upset by a team not so good.
I couldn’t sleep that night just thinking of what could or should have been. I have come to the conclusion that losing in that respect isn’t everything.
There are a few losses that do mean something. If I would lose the opportunity to share Christ with someone because they are no longer with us, that would be a tragedy. If I would lose the opportunity of letting someone I love know that I love them, that would be horrible.
Losing someone I care about by death in general is a sad moment, but these are events that, for the most part, are now out of our control. If we die without knowing Christ ourselves, then we have lost it all. After death there are no second chances, there are no do-overs, there are no next seasons.
In sports there is no way of guaranteeing a win, no matter how good your team is; disappointment comes so often.
But the good news about that which matters most, the salvation of our souls, is that we can have a guarantee of winning.
Any and everyone who truly wants to go to heaven can. All we have to do to win is to humble ourselves before the Lord, confess our sins, and believe by faith that he will save us.
Don’t lose it all, choose to be a winner.