These days, so much emphasis has been placed on winning, we can easily forget the importance of how and why we play the game. When winning is all that matters, we’ll do whatever it takes to win. All forms of cheating are okay—as long as we don’t get caught.
Thankfully, when I was a kid, l learned the consequence of cheating. While my dad was out of the room, I moved a chess piece just one square over to give me a stronger position. At the time, he didn’t say anything. I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure he let me win.
Afterward, he said, “You didn’t win.”
“Yes I did.”
“No”—he shook his head—“you might fool others, but you can’t fool yourself. You know you cheated. God knows you cheated. So the two most important people in the universe know you didn’t win. You lost.”
This changed my perspective about how the game had to be played. No matter what game I was playing, whether it was sports, a board game, or the game of life, I had to keep talking to my brain, saying, Your competition isn’t the other guy. The object of this game is to do your best.
As I consider all that God has done for me, I feel an obligation to give him my very best.
