Linners and Wosers

See the pure joy of a winner? She may have lost some teeth, but the blue ribbon was all she cared about at that moment. This is kid #2. Kid #1 won first place in a regional bible quizzing contest a couple of weeks ago. She was jumping up and down and screaming like the people on Wheel of Fortune. My kid #4 won the first place ribbon for decorating his Valentine box. I'm really glad because he put a lot of effort into that little box. My kid#1 lost the box decorating thing for her age group. I'm glad she did not win because she did not spend enough time planning how she would decorate hers. Kid #5 did not win either. Fine. Mom did hers for her.

Now we get to what irks me. Kid #3 and kid #2 both came home with a first place ribbon for the box thing too. They did not seem too happy about it. I found out why. They were in the same age group. Everyone in that group "won." The older kids had an actual winner. My #1 kid was happy for the kid that won and realized that he had done a better job than she had done. The young group had an actual winner. It was my #4. He learned what it was like to be THE winner. He liked it. Someone, however, in charge of the middle age group (kids #2 & #3) decided that everyone would be the winner. The kids knew. They did not care at all about that ribbon. They haven't even showed it to me. They don't care. They are not stupid. Someone well intentioned kind of ruined it for everyone. No big deal. I'll make sure they get the real taste of victory many times in there life. I'll also make sure they know the agony of defeat. Both are valuable. I said I am irked, but that is really too strong. Not really even irritated. Just one of those shake the head back and forth moments.

The real problem is that the church in America has conditioned itself to be the same way as the misguided group leader for the Valentines party. We too many times just let each other coast along and pat each other on the back as we jog the direction that we think the finish line may be. We may even see people running in slightly different directions than we are going. We may just smile and say "Keep running brother." Everyone is a winner in God's eyes, right? As long as you try hard and do the best you can...

A couple of things on this. First, we have distorted "encouragement." Second, Jesus is calling for winners who follow the rules.

Parakaleo is the Greek word used for encouragement in the NT. We like very much the part of its meaning that says we should comfort each other, strengthen each other, bear one another's burdens, or come along side one another. We shy away from the essence of the word that says to instruct one another, to exhort one another, to entreat one another, to admonish one another, to- dare I say- meddle in someone else's life. We value someone's pride more than we value doing things God's way. We are too comfortable in our relationships and are afraid that meddling would interfere with our social status. The goal of encouragement is not to make someone feel better about themselves, but to better enable them to please and glorify God.

Now back to the winners and losers. Read I Cor. 9:24-27. There is a goal and there are rules. Think of the two builders in Matthew 7. Both built fine houses. This parable is not like The Three Little Pigs. One of the men did not follow the rules. He built his house and disregarded the teachings of Jesus. We need to be careful that we don't watch someone we call 'brother' build a house without regard for Jesus' commands and "encourage" him to "keep on keeping on" or "just do your best."

Because of having winners and losers, my #1 is already planning her box for next year. Because of winners and losers, my #4 has a new motivation for doing well. Because of winners and winners, my #2 and #3 have already forgotten about it. We are training ourselves to forget about what lies ahead and strive for all the earthly things that so easily entangle us. We do not remember the hope we will REALLY experience pure joy if we get the "Well done my good and faithful servant."