Title Who Won?
Contents
title ; who won?
main text ; 2 Corinthians 6:9-10
Everyone wants victory rather than defeat. Because the victors are given applause and cheers and can earn wealth and fame. On the other hand, a loser feels somewhat dishonest, and that defeat can sometimes put the brand of a loser or loser in life.
That is why people work tirelessly to beat others in all competitions, from elementary school class president elections to parliamentary and presidential elections. However, we are so obsessed with victory that we must always be on the lookout for the wrong temptation to try to gain victory in a way that God does not want.
In other words, as a Christian, you should feel very ashamed to forsake God's justice and truth and to gain victory by mobilizing injustice or trickery. In other words, wouldn't it be better to continue to maintain a relationship with God because of a proud defeat than to lose a relationship with God by gaining a humble victory?
We remember the Winter Olympics not long ago in the city of Salt Lake in the United States. In the short track event, Korea's Kim Dong-seong won the gold medal proudly by defeating Ono, a Japanese but turned American athlete. When the Korean people heard this news on TV, everyone cheered and rejoiced greatly. Kim Dong-seong responded to the cheers of the audience by waving the Taegeukgi.
However, a few minutes later, the referee stopped Ohno's Hollywood action, and Kim Dong-seong was disqualified, and American Ono player took the gold medal. Then, Ono jumped with joy and hung the gold medal around his neck. On the other hand, Kim Dong-seong lowered his head and made an empty expression.
However, we do not consider Ono to be a real winner. Rather, they refer to him as a deceitful victor, a humble victor. Why? It was because the way they achieved victory was unjust.
Instead of having a gold medal around your neck and enjoying yourself, wouldn't it be much better to play an honorable match even if you're at the bottom of a no medal or to disappear into obscurity? Don't you think that God sends more glory and cheers to the proud last-minute than the humble victor?
Not long ago, hundreds of citizens gathered in New York City's Central Park gave a thunderous applause with loud shouts. It was nothing but shouts and applause for the last place. It was an encouragement to the slowest runner in marathon history. Some citizens were so moved that they even shed tears.
The last runner to compete in the New York City Marathon was 98 hours 48 minutes 17 seconds. The ranking was 19,413. Of course, no one was behind him. That's 1.6 km per hour.
The slowest marathon hero was a 50-year-old runner named Bob Willland. While serving as a medic in the Vietnam War, he was hit by a mortar shell and lost both legs. And it's amazing that he's two-legged and now a gym teacher in Pasadena, California, who became the first marathoner to run with two arms instead of two.
The two-armed jumping posture was in the shape of a neck and legs, with both arms on the ground and pushing forward like a swing while holding the body. His saddle alone weighed 6.7 kg, and his two fists wrapped in cloth served as his feet.
He started two hours ahead of the others, but he didn't have the chance to compete. I had to rest my eyes every hour, and at night I was tired from the cold and fatigue and had to close my eyes for a while. Then I woke up in the morning and started running again.
The marathon has already ended, so it's been a long time since the goal tape was removed from the goal point where 'Bob Willland' would arrive. But 'Bob' kept running. The shouts of encouragement did not stop at the car passing by him.
The marathon headquarters was moved by 'Willand''s tireless tenacity and hung the tape again on the goal point four days after the race was over. After 98 hours, 48 minutes and 17 seconds, he finally reached his goal. Of course, it was the last record in the world, and it was the last record of 19,413 places.
But no one said he was the last to be ashamed. Rather, the name of the person who won the first place in the marathon may not be remembered, but the name of 'Bob Willland' came to be remembered by many citizens. When 'Bob. Willland' reached the goal, he raised his arms to the sky and shouted loudly. "I finally did it!" It was truly a great last-minute victory.
Folks, people want success rather than failure, victory rather than defeat, and number one rather than last. But history never says that the humble victor is the greatest. Rather, we are admiring and applauding the proud last place and the proud loser.
Some presidents of the United States are called failure experts. It is none other than Abraham Lincoln. He is a man who has lived on a continuum of countless failures. Look at someone like Gandhi in India. He was beaten if beaten, stolen if stolen, and imprisoned without a second thought when thrown into prison. He was a man who was always naked, starving and shabby throughout his life. In a way, Gandhi's life must have been the picture of a clear loser.
But we don't think of these people as losers, but rather as the wonderful victors of life. It's because their lives were in the right direction and they were the ones who sounded the loud triumphal trumpet in the final showdown.
However, there are people in the world who have won and won over and over again. At the end of the Joseon Dynasty, when most of us were sleeping in the deep sleep of history, there was a person who woke up unusually early to the world.
As someone who had already learned English before being accepted in the past, he became a leading figure in the pro-American faction when the United States was close to us, and as the world changed and Russia became stronger, he soon spoke Russian and became a central figure in the pro-Russian faction.
And when Japan was victorious in the Russo-Japanese War, this time, he became the leader of the pro-Japanese faction with his fluent Japanese, and then served as the Prime Minister. After that, it was time for Korea to be handed over to Japan. He became a Japanese without hesitation and turned into a nobleman in that country, and finally received the title of Marquis.
This story is about a man named Lee Wan-yong. He was a man who won and kept winning. But the strange thing is that none of us Koreans say he is a victor in life.
If there is one person that Koreans hate the most, it is probably Lee Wan-yong. Why? It is because he is a man who sold his country for his own comfort, success, and victory, and gave his country a devastating defeat.
Guys, keep that in mind. A person who lives only for himself can never be a great victor in life. Also, even if he succeeds through injustice or accumulates wealth through scheming, that does not make him a true winner.
We will bow our heads in front of the tombstone of an unknown soldier who has fled from the fierce battlefield and died bravely on the battlefield rather than a soldier who lived long to 100 years old.
Ladies and gentlemen, many people think that living with shallow thoughts and methods as an opportunist is victorious according to the rapidly changing tides of the times. But keep in mind. The result is always a disastrous failure.
Even if it seems like a loss, it seems foolish, it seems stupid, but when you practice the justice and love of the Lord to the end, and live according to God-centeredness rather than my thoughts and methods, you will become a complete victor and a proud victor.
In other words, the famous, the living, the praised, and the rich are not all victors, but those who are unknown for the sake of the Lord, those who die, those who are disciplined, and those who are poor can rather be placed in the place of true winners.
Everyone, not everything you get is a victory. Even if we lose, if we lose for the sake of the Lord, we are a true winner, and those who can be thankful even then are truly great winners. Not everyone who wins a gold medal is a winner, and even if he finished last, even if he didn't get fame, even if he didn't make a career out of it, if the process of being last was honorable, then he is truly a great winner.
Moreover, we Christians are not those who look only for the victory of this earth and lose sight of the victory of the kingdom of heaven. God does not define winners and losers by what we gain or lose on this earth.
Rather, who was despised for the sake of the Lord, who suffered for the Lord, who developed pride for the Lord, and who sacrificed for the Lord determine the true winners and losers.
2000 years ago, Jesus was ridiculed in order to fulfill God's will of salvation. He was abandoned by God for us. He was pierced with thorns and spears, beaten with whips, bled and finally suffered and died on the cross. It was such a disastrous defeat. In the face of that defeat, all the disciples who followed him also ran away.
But today we no longer speak of Jesus as a loser. Rather, they praise him as the greatest victor in history. And we bow our heads before him and kneel.
And I pray to him.
?쏰h, Lord who has overcome the world, let us follow the image of your victory!??