“For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” — 1 John 5:4-5
This past summer, I was at one of our local collegiate summer league baseball games, and the score was not in my team’s favor. The fans were doing all they could to rally the players and get some momentum going in the game, and I looked over at the fan sitting next to me and said, “Ugh! We’re losing!” She replied, “True. Or we could say they’re just not winning … yet!”
Her simple statement was revealing to me because, if we’re honest, life truly is all about perspective. You can end up with an entirely different outcome and attitude based on how you choose to spin a situation: You can either claim defeat before it’s even happened, or you can hold onto the hope of victory and keep the door of possibility open.
So often, we see people who complain or constantly have a negative attitude about things and, even if the story isn’t over yet in a situation, they’ve already run it out and formed their own conclusion about it. For all accounts, they’ve pretty much conceded before anything has even worked itself out yet. One thing goes wrong, and they’ve instantly given up hope of a turnaround.
On the opposite side of things, we’ve all noticed people who are the perpetual optimists — no score is too big for a comeback, no challenge too hard to overcome in their minds. They are always looking at a situation with possibility and hope, leaving room for what sometimes appears to be the impossible. When others have given up, these are the ones lifting spirits and keeping everyone fighting till the end. To their core, they believe it truly is never over until it’s over.
Perspective is everything.
In any situation you face in sports or in life, you’re always presented with a choice as to how you’re going to view it: It’s either the end or the beginning; it’s either filled with possibility or filled with impossibility; you’re either claiming defeat as inevitable or you’re holding up for even the slimmest chance of victory. And which one you choose largely determines what type of person you’ll become and where you’ll end up in life — a defeatist or an overcomer.
Yes, it’s hard sometimes to see the silver lining of situations and to keep the faith when things look bleak, but that’s what life with Jesus is all about: realizing that the victory already is yours in Christ and that, with Him, you’re never truly losing in the end.
If you’re at a place right now where life is getting you down and you’re fighting discouragement and you’re wondering if or when things will ever turn around, you have a decision to make and a question to answer. You can either ask yourself, “What does this make possible?” or you can throw in the towel and run the risk of missing on a great turnaround God may have ahead.
Whatever you’re dealing with today, just realize that, depending on how you look at it, you’re either losing or you’re just not winning … yet. And I choose to believe the latter.
— Katherine Singer
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