Go for the win!

Eva Gabor said, "Love is a game two can play and both can win." Yes, love is something both can "win" at, but it takes some losing on your part to realize every one of your "wins" , doesn't it? It is a little give and take - you are not always on the "longest end of the stick" in relationship.  Sometimes you draw the short straw!  I think the game of life might just be summed up with the words of a popular Christian contemporary song, "Grace wins every time!"  Matthew West's song, "Grace Wins", although much longer than these words, resonates in my heart this morning.  The words which come so clearly into my mind are these:  "There's a war between guilt and grace and they're fighting for a sacred space; but I'm living proof grace wins every time."  If you have put your faith and trust in the work of Christ in your life, you may also echo these words today!

Put Your marvelous love on display for all to see. Liberator of those who long for shelter beside You, set them safely away from their enemies, ever welcomed by grace.  (Psalm 17:7 VOICE)

Ever welcomed by grace, we start each new day in the shelter of the one who walks us into the safety and security of the shelter of his wings.  The place of grace is a place where we are set.  It is not a place we "happen upon" by accident, making some discovery as though it were some hidden away thing to be discovered by our effort.  It is not a place we "attain to" as though it were something we earn.  It is a place where we are "set" and not just "set", but set away in safety from the things which have declared themselves to be the enemies of our soul.  Ever welcomed by grace - no other thing makes us welcomed - no other thing will make us feel more welcomed, either!

I like to play games.  Truthfully, the premise of every game is that someone wins, is it not?  Now, I don't consider T-Ball and similarly declared "games" as true "games" - because somehow they have developed a system of playing without anyone winning.  They are really forms of physical activity which engage our children in some outside exercise.  I am not sure why we want to eliminate the competition of the game - but somehow maybe it helps some feel like their child's psyche will not be damaged or something.  As we get out the Monopoly board, do we say we hope everyone builds their banks and grabs up equal amounts of mortgages? Nope!  We set out to establish a "monopoly" or two on the board, hopefully buying lots and lots of houses, until we amass the most significant ones which will require everyone to pay a huge amount of rent when they stop on them at the roll of just the right number on the dice!  In most games, someone wins!

Life isn't really much of a "game", but we play to win, don't we? I would like us to begin to see that in life there are "winning moments", such as when we finally realize "grace wins every time"!  It doesn't matter how well we think we manage against the enemies of our soul, grace wins every time.  If we are absolutely truthful here - we actually WANT grace to win every time!  Why?  Winning without grace at the center of that win is kind of "hollow"!  In life, the "sacred space" is up for grabs in our life and we definitely want grace to fill that space - absolutely nothing else will every be more than something which "fills space"!  Grace needs to win - because no other "win" is really a win!  Just sayin!