Winning Without Losing

I am what my wife calls, "a sore winner". I have gotten better over the years. As a child, I was taught to win. Winning was everything. I have learned as an adult that you can win and still lose.

I loved to play games as a kid. My brother and sisters would not play with me. There is not anything more humiliating in life than to be beat by a kid brother in a game. When they would not play with me, I would play by myself. I am one of the few people that can name all of the rental prices of every piece of property in a Monopoly game with or without hotels. I can still remember most of them to this day. Now there is a talent the world is always seeking!

All of this is leading up to the recent events. One of the evil ones of our world is dead. We won.

My dad asked me the other day if we were supposed to be glad when we kill someone. As a veteran of World War II, even he wondered what was the appropriate response. Maybe the wisdom of his age and faith has brought this question. The world has a different response than the faith.

John Holbert was my seminary professor of Old Testament at SMU. He maintained from his study of the Old Testament that many times what God had instructed was different that what the Hebrew folks did. For example, in the fall of Jericho, the great city, God instructed the Israelites to walk around the city blowing the ram's horns. The scriptures say that the great city's walls fell after seven days on the seventh trip around the city. The fall of the walls was the destruction of the city. It was a done deal. Now in previous wars, the instructions were given to kill all--spare none. However, God gave no such instructions for this war. However, they did what they had always done--spared none--except Rahab.

Dr. Holbert, who is one of the great scholars of the Bible, makes the argument that some of the destruction and killing of the Old Testament attributed to following God is really humans being humans--justifying their actions with God. God's directions are more merciful than we as humans are comfortable with.

The Book of Proverbs gives a warning to all of us. Proverbs 24:17 says, "Do not gloat when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles." This is opposite of what the enemy does as shown in Psalm 35:15. But that is what the world does. The world does not celebrate as God does.

So what is our response to the events of the last few days.

Hate what is evil. Yes, I said Hate. Hatred of those who do or have done evil is a faithful response. Hate poverty. Hate injustice. Hate those who oppress. Hate those who take religion and make it what has never been intended for.

Use the defeat of evil to give God praise and glory. Celebrate that evil, or at least a portion of it in our world, has now come to an end. Celebrate justice but know that the handmaiden of justice is mercy. Remind yourself that God does reign in this world. God's kingdom can come. Let us make sure that we are about bringing God's kingdom on earth and no one else's.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a theologian during World War II. As a Lutheran pastor, he struggled with the ethical and moral dilemma of whether to participate in a plot to murder Hitler. On the basis of doing more good than harm, he chose to participate. The plot failed. Bonhoeffer could have escaped to the USA and lived a pretty comfortable life. However, because of his choice to participate in the plot, he also saw it as his responsibility to stay in the suffering of his people. He spent the last years of his life in a German concentration camp where just days before the liberation, his captor made sure that he was executed. His ministry there changed our world.

Some would argue that Bonhoeffer lost. He did lose his life only to gain his life and life everlasting.

Let's make sure that in our winning, we do not lose. And in our losing, may we win what only God can give.