Champion

Ever been a winner? How did it make you feel? Maybe you’ve never been a winner but strove many years to become one only to end up second place, mid group or dead last. You have never been a champion. Well, I’m here to tell you that no matter where you end up “placing” in life by the rewards of the world’s success, you are a champion. It’s not because of what you have in medals, ribbons, awards and praise, it’s what you have in Christ Jesus.
    
I’ve had a few times in life where I’ve won big and a few times in life where I’ve lost big. I’ve brought home trophies and I’ve brought home junk and feeling like I get hit by a truck the next day. Each time I’d put in the same amount of effort. I’d give it my all but sometimes my all wasn’t enough, and I was okay with that. I could leave knowing I did my best and that was all I could do. That’s all God asks for us as well is to give Him our best but in actuality it’s more than that, He wants us to give “our everything.” Our blood, sweat, tears, our time, our preparation, our schedule, our goals, our hopes, our dreams—He wants those. Now you may think, but God, I can’t give this up, it’s part of me! You may not have to give it up if you do it for His honor and glory. And sometimes God may call you out of it to do something greater with your life. God will lead you in the right way on the matter!
    
But let’s go back to think about being a champion. When I think of champion I see someone holding a trophy with on a pedestal, smiling and excited. But you know when God sees a champion? When we serve one another. Just look at this example; “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. John 13:3-9.” Here is the champion of the world, Jesus Christ, the Savior of all mankind, washing another man’s feet! Eww! That doesn’t sound like something on a champion’s highlight reel. Peter, was like, “Oh no, Jesus, you shouldn’t wash my feet!” Jesus then plainly tells him, “If you don’t let me wash your feet, I have no dealing with you or you with me!” Then Peter says, “Lord, wash not just my feet but my hands and my head!” Peter realized his error in thinking that serving was beneath Jesus. We may look at the sacrifice of champions and think that what we are called to do, but God doesn’t call us all to be trophy carrying champions that the world sees. Sometimes its what people don’t see that makes us champions!
    
Champions come in all shapes and sizes. This one came undefeated and with many trophies. He was fearless, reckless, and intimidating—that stopped many people in their tracks but there was always a few who would try and find themselves on the losing end of the battle. The champion taunted, “And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him. And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together. 1 Samuel 17:2-10.”  He sounds mean, scary, and undefeatable. Yet, Israel had a great thing on their side—God Almighty! There was a man who was willing to fight, not a champion fighter but a shepherd who had nothing more than a sling and some stones facing a man full of armor and a sword much taller than the shepherd. The shepherd wasn’t afraid, “And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel. And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? 1 Samuel 17:23-26.” David was the shepherd and Goliath was the giant. David was fighting with God on his side. Goliath was fighting with the world’s wisdom and power on his side. Goliath had everything a warrior needed that the world could provide but he didn’t have God Almighty. David’s unarmored body stood small in comparison to the giant, but David’s faith was greater, much greater than the giant’s size! That’s a true champion! A champion is a victor and God liked to use the underdog to prove His power. From David and Goliath to Joshua and the battle of Jericho, to Gideon and his army of 300 against hundred thousand soldiers and many more instances but you and I are not in battle, or are we?
    
The Bible says that we are all in a war, we are all facing challenges of some sort. We want to be successful and come out with the victory. Even if we do everything right that doesn’t mean things won’t happen to us to make us feel like losers. The devil tries in his power to make us feel less than loved, to make us give into the struggle, to surrender to temptation and sin. David, the giant-killer, couldn’t slay some of man’s basic temptations and paid the price. Yet God still used him mightily after he put those sins away. Sometimes we feel battle hardened and beaten down. We get depressed and feel like God is a million miles away helping some other person be a champion. That’s the flesh and the devil talking! God has invested time and love in each of us and wants us to be champions for Him, not for what the considers “champion”. As the Bible says, “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. 1 Chronicles 29:11-12.” No one was born a champion, save one person and they crucified him! Our sin put him up there on that cross and for his sacrifice He became our victor and our champion so that we may be champions as well! The scripture promises us, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:1-5.” Jesus became our champion in our time of need and despair. But being a champion isn’t easy as Jesus showed us, there are times even as you are winning people will hate you. Some people hate the winner and Jesus was no exception. But Jesus knew who would have the ultimate victory and while people didn’t like it, He proved it at the grave when He was no longer there! As Jesus says, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Revelation 1:18.” Jesus came up swinging the keys of death and hell in the face of Satan who tried everything to gain Jesus’ worship and devotion but that wasn’t going to happen! Jesus gained the victory and so can we when we deny our sinful flesh and turn to His amazing grace! Our flesh is corruptible, that means it can fail. Our bodies fail, our hearts fail us, our thinking gets into trouble, that’s why we need someone more powerful than us to help guide our ways. As Paul says about the benefits of having Jesus as your Lord and Savior, “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:53-58.”  To be a champion means we will defeat death and the penalty of sin by gaining eternal life and Heaven through Jesus. Talk about being a winner! Life may through us curves and valleys, but God helps us through it all, if we let Him! Following our fleshly desires can be dangerous to our winning streak, “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Romans 8:5-11.” To be a champion, much sacrifice is made. You have physically, mentally and emotionally prepare yourself. You have to be focused, determined and ready. The Christian walk should be seen the same. It’s not passive and as we need it. It’s daily routine that needs to become a lifestyle. It needs to mesh so much with our life that people can’t see where it stops and starts. It’s not easy. There is an old quote that says, “Character is who you are in the dark.” People training for major events can be disqualified or derailed after one minor slip up. People can lose their dreams after one night of bad decisions. Look at David and Solomon, they paid for their transgressions. They were champions brought low because of their fleshly desires. We should learn from them dear Christian, not learn how to do it and get away with it but how to resist temptation and lean on the everlasting arms of Christ.  We need to deny ourselves the things that take us further from God and His love. You know what they are, they start at small at first. It won’t matter, you tell yourself, I’ll get it right on Sunday. I’ll read my Bible tonight. It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission. I’m sorry but that’s not how it works with God. He wants us to be present and willing to follow Him, not to think He’s some great thing to have on a whim or just when you need Him. It’d be like just training when you need to or working when you want to. You can’t live like that. You have to put in the time and sacrifice for it to pay off.  When David faced the giant, he was walking in the will of God. He was ready to face the giant and be a conqueror through God’s power and might. You and I can be conquerors if we lay our sins down at the feet of Jesus and walk in the will of God. The scripture says, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:34-39.” We are the only thing that separates us from Christ. Cast your sin aside and run with freedom that Christ gives us. Be a champion in the love of Christ. It may not look appealing. It may not be all praise and fanfare. You may not get your name in lights or applause, but the eternal rewards will be worth it all. “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.” Keep your mind and body ready for service by God Almighty. Be a champion whether the world sees it or not. Carry your flag of freedom high and the love of Jesus in your heart. Use God’s word as your training manual, the world as your gym, and Heaven as your goal. It just takes a step out in faith to be a champion. Ready? Step!