Written by Pastor Jack Wellman“If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.”
– Zig Ziglar
Commentary
Defeat is a part of life. It is a fact. You can’t just step up to a free throw line, without having thrown a ball in your life and expect to make the shot. We all have to start somewhere. Sadly, too many Christians look at defeat as some sort of defining experience. They let their defeats, and we have many of them in any given week, define them. The truth is that you are worth more than your losses. The truth is defeat is just victory in disguise. Keep the following truths in mind when trying to recognize victory from every defeat.
The lesson is the victory
As Zig Ziglar has said, you don’t really lose if you see the lesson in every defeat. You gain a benefit, an advantage, and an asset when you are humble enough to set aside pride, ego, and fear and look at the lesson you have learned due to a hard experience. These are the kinds of hard lessons that lay a solid foundation of experience that lead to eventual victory. However, to claim this victory, you have to let yourself recognize the lesson.
Each challenge gives us an opportunity to recognize our strengths
Sure, defeat stings. Sure, defeat can be a pain. However, when you failed to hit the mark and when you discovered your best wasn’t good enough, you’d realize that you have some personal assets. When defeat entered your life, you realize the value of certain personal traits like your patience, your kindness, your compassion, and others. Far from failed assets that failed to prevent you from feeling defeat, these are personal assets that can lay the foundation for lasting victory in the future. You just have to choose to recognize them.
Each challenge gives us the opportunity to welcome Christ’s power
When we’re feeling challenged and are in the middle of trials, it’s too easy to conclude that our problems are bigger than Christ. Think about how ridiculous this idea is. Christ created the universe-not by his hands but by merely speaking it into being and you think he is not big enough for your problems? Focus on the enormous power of Christ and his tremendous grace and your problems will appear very small indeed.
God wants you to live a victorious life. He himself has said he wants you to live life to the fullest. Regardless of how big your challenges are, you can always choose to focus on Christ and his power. By abiding in him, all your problems will assume their proper size in perspective.
