I am a huge sports fan. I think sports offer great life lessons and there is much we can learn about life from sports themselves. Cliches about sports often end up being descriptions of real life situations. One of those cliches is "playing not to lose." Playing not to lose usually happens when a team is ahead by several points and the other team begins to comeback and score consecutive points.
Just the other day I was watching my beloved Colorado Buffaloes basketball team. They were ahead by seventeen points on the road at Baylor. To gain that lead the Buffs were playing loose and fast. They had a great game plan to win the game. They were taking it to Baylor's serious height advantage. Then something happened. Baylor scored a few baskets in a row and Colorado begin to take bad shots and turn the ball over. Next thing you know the Buffs were completely out of their game plan. They were panicking trying to conserve their lead. They begin to play not to lose rather than playing to win, they stopped playing the way that got them that seventeen point lead in the first place. They blew the game and lost.
Don't we often do the same thing in real life? We do it in our relationships, in our spiritual lives, in ministry, and on our jobs.
If we were to compare and contrast playing to win with playing not to lose we would have to start with the fact that playing to win always requires a level of risk and playing not to lose emphasizes conserving. Risk and and conserving are opposites. You can't risk and conserve at the same time. Risk by definition is the possibility of suffering harm or loss.
Another difference between the two is that playing to win requires boldness and playing not to lose oozes reluctance. Boldness is not carelessness but it is confidence and the ability to trust and move forward. It is faith in action whereas reluctance is motivated by fear. In particularly fear of loss. Risk and boldness are excited about the future, reluctance and fear spend a lot of energy on holding on to the past.
In my opinion the person who typifies playing not to lose in the Bible is Saul (1 Samuel 9-31). According to Scripture Saul was "an impressive man without equal and a head taller than any of the others" (1 Samuel 9:2). He had all the advantages a King could ask for yet he played not to lose all of his time as King. His focus was on himself and not losing his Kingdom. He was reluctant, indecisive, and filled with the fear of man. All of his decisions were stained with his desire to conserve what he had rather than be obedient to the Lord.
A character that is the complete opposite of Saul is Caleb (Numbers 13-14). Caleb typifies playing to win. Caleb was one of the spies who went into the land God had promised the Jews. The land was filled with all the great things God had told them but also had giants that intimidated the majority of the spies. In fact they were so intimidated that all but two refused to take God at his word and go into the land. Caleb was one of them that believed God would keep his word:
"Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." (Numbers 13:30 NIV)
God was pleased with Caleb's faith:
"But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it" (Numbers 14:24 NIV)
Playing to win pleases God: "...without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6 NIV)
Is there a place in your life where you are playing not to lose rather than to win? Where are you walking in fear rather than faith? Reluctance rather than boldness? Conserving rather than risking?
The difficult part in following Jesus is that playing not to lose can be very costly:
"Then Jesus said to the disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life." (Matthew 16:24-25 NLT)
However, the reward for playing to win with him is great: "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven..." (Luke 6:23 NIV)
Paul prayed a prayer about playing to win for some early Christ followers. Would you pray it with me?
"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light...With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." (Colossians 1:9-12, 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12)
