This world has two kinds of people – winners and losers. Everybody tries to win in this game of life, but most people end up losers. There is a saying: “When the end is good, all is good.” What good is the gain in the beginning if we lose in the end?
Often we hear stories of people who suddenly lost all their life savings. For years they had worked hard to build up their fortunes and suddenly it is gone. In the world people say that the greatest loss to any person is death, but we believe differently – the greatest loss is to lose eternal life.
Jesus spoke a parable of a man whose field produced a great harvest and the man said, “I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” Luke 12:19–20
By worldly standards he was lucky, very fortunate. He may have been thinking that God had blessed him by giving him so much for his retirement. But one thing he forgot that made him a fool – he was not rich towards God. Therefore, in the end he was a loser, and the world is full of this type of loser.
Balaam thought that he gained, but in a few days he lost his life. Judas thought that he was a winner, but was he? In the same night he lost his life.
Some enjoy their riches and luxuries for a while, like in the parable of Jesus of the rich man and the poor man, Lazarus, who was full of sores. “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried.” Luke 16:22
Which one of these two was a winner, and which one was a loser?
This life is like a shadow, existing today and maybe gone tomorrow. Or like grass which grows, and soon withers away.
Every day we are winning or losing in this game of life. Yet no one needs to be a loser; we all can be winners.
All the winners will receive heaven and eternal life and the losers will die an eternal death.
The two brothers, Esau and Jacob, were both ambitious. They wanted something for themselves. Jacob wanted the firstborn blessing, to be the priest in the family, and Esau wanted the goods and property which came to the firstborn. In the end they both received what they wanted, yet one of them was a winner and the other one was a loser.
“Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.” Psalm 14:7
“Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” Hebrews 12:16–17. The winner was rejoicing while the loser was in tears.
We find many similar experiences, like Cain and Abel. One of them died young, yet he was the winner. Judas seemed to be a winner with 30 pieces of silver in his pocket, yet he was a terrible loser.
Jesus Christ was dying on the cross and Satan was rejoicing. “He suffered all that it is possible for human flesh to suffer and endure, that we might pass triumphantly through all the temptations Satan may invent to destroy our faith.” –Sons and Daughters of God, p. 294
How often the winner seems like a loser, yet in the end the opposite is true. Millions of martyrs suffered much pain and lost their lives, yet they were winners and their persecutors were losers.
“Of all the gifts that heaven can bestow upon men, fellowship with Christ in His sufferings is the most weighty trust and the highest honour.” –The Ministry of Healing, p. 478
“For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Philippians 1:29
These sufferings in this life are given to us as a gift or an honour, therefore we must not complain about them, but accept them as part of the cross that all the followers of Christ need to carry.
“Many who profess to be Christians provide abundantly for themselves, supplying all their imaginary wants, while they give no heed to the servants of the Lord’s cause. They have thought it gain to rob God by retaining all, or a selfish proportion, of His gifts as their own. But they meet with loss instead of gain. Their course results in the withdrawal of mercies and blessings. By their selfish, avaricious spirit, men have lost much.” –The Review and Herald, December 8, 1896
What seemed as a gain became a loss to them in reality.
To obey God is always a gain to us:
We gain by doing missionary work.
We gain by being humble.
We gain by being a peacemaker.
It is a gain to sacrifice for others.
To do all this makes us winners. Then again, every sin is a loss. Every neglected duty is a loss, unused opportunities are losses.
Jesus said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” Matthew 25:40
We fight a war against our enemies, and the only weapon we are allowed to use is love. We win by love and courtesy.
If someone hits us with a weapon, by words, by backbiting, by ignoring us, we need to turn the other cheek – this way we will be winners.
Jesus has given us an example of suffering silently. As a lamb, He was brought to the slaughter, yet He did not open His mouth. We as God’s people have no rights. We can be put in prison, even to death, yet we are not to complain.
We may think that we have done nothing wrong, but if someone else thinks that we are guilty of wrongdoing, then we should ask for forgiveness; it costs very little, only our pride.
Every day we are losing or winning. We are not speaking of temporary gain, but eternal riches. By winning we gain peace, joy, and happiness for now and for eternity.
By reading the Bible, you are winning; by attending church you are winning. By these you are developing your characters, and a Christlike character is a victory to be gained by any means, while selfish, proud characters make us unhappy and miserable and we lose eternal life.
In our world the losers often despise the winners. Judas despised Jesus when He was washing the dusty feet of His disciples. The losers see no wisdom in giving, sacrificing, or in self-denial.
Worldly wisdom looks upon religion as foolishness, while to others it is the power of God, the treasure of heaven, for which they are willing to sacrifice even their own lives.
It is our personal choice to be winners or losers. In the time of Noah there were eight winners and an estimated 100 million losers. From the 600,000 adult men who left Egypt to travel to the land of Canaan, two made it – they were the winners.
We only have two choices: to follow the way of God, which means to obey Him and to shun the world, which will change us to Christ-likeness which is to be perfect in character, or the other way which is our own way which may seem right to us, but in the end brings us to eternal death.
Soon our time will be over, when salvation is not possible anymore. Then the people who are lost will accuse one another, saying, “You made me lose eternal life, you kept me from faithfulness to God, you promised to care for and love me, but you took my salvation away.” In reality, no one can take your salvation away; you yourself must decide to give it up. Nobody can make you a loser; it is everyone’s personal decision.
We all can be winners if it is our desire and if we are wiling to put in an effort to be winners. AMEN.
Timo Martin