“When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.’ And the disciples were filled with grief.” — Matthew 17:22-23
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One of the greatest lines in the movie “Moneyball” is, “I hate losing. I hate losing more than I like winning.” I think many of us can relate to this mentality.
Near the end of Jesus’ life, He gathered His disciples together and told them He would be betrayed into the hands of His enemies and killed, but would rise from the dead (Matthew 17:22-23, above). Immediately, the disciples were filled with grief.
Jesus had just told them He would be killed, but He also told them He would be raised from the dead. They were so focused on the negative part that they missed the most important part: He would conquer death for all of us! A lot of times we can do the same thing — listen to only part of the story when it’s the whole story that matters.
In John 16:33, Jesus says, “In this world you will have trouble.” We tend to stop there and focus on all our troubles, discouragement and disappointments. But Jesus doesn’t stop there and neither should we. He continues, “But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
We can be filled with grief, discouragement and disappointment when we focus on part of the story. If our focus is just on our pain, we’ll never see the praise. If our focus is just on the dark, we’ll never see the light. If our focus is on death, we can never see life. If we just focus on the loss, we will never enjoy the wins.
— Sarah Roberts, University of Oklahoma softball chaplain
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