Does God want us to win?

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Does God want us to win? Growing up, I was really competitive in games. Video games, basketball games, any type of game. Now, I don't know about you, but when I started learning about God, when the game began, I'd have this extreme confidence that I'm going to win cuz God is with me. Now, did I win all the time? No. And it wasn't just me because I had this friend in college, very competitive in video games, also believed in God. And whenever he'd lose, he'd take his Xbox controller and throw it across the room. So, what does that mean if we're losing while God is with us? Does God even want us to win? Well, the Bible does say, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." When I first read that, I thought it meant that I need to be the one to win. I even had these other scriptures coming to mind. "The Lord will fight for you. There's more of us than there are of them. The Lord will act on our behalf." But then, I remembered the story of how the devil tried to use scripture to mislead Jesus. He took him really high up to the cliff of the temple and said, "If you are the son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against the stone.'" But Jesus, knowing more scripture than just those few verses, said, "It is also written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" Now, this brings up an interesting question. What is winning? Because if Jesus jumped and the angels caught him, that would have seemed like a huge win over the devil. But God's view of winning looked different. Think of it this way. God's people were oppressed for years. They were begging for someone to save them. And through scripture and prophets, they knew that one day a savior would come. And the way that they were expecting to win was that God would raise someone up to take out everyone that was against them. And so, when they saw Jesus performing miracles on behalf of God, healing blind eyes, raising people from the dead, no wonder they thought, "This guy is going to save us. This is the one we've been praying about. This is how we're going to win." So, imagine how they felt when it ended with the same people that were holding them back killing Jesus by hanging him on a cross. But in God's eyes, winning looks different. What would be more important than saving himself and saving the people from their oppressors, saving their souls when where it matters most. And the Bible teaches us how to do the same. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others. Jesus could have appeared to win the game, saved himself, but he cared about saving their souls more. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. So now we got to read that prize verse from this new perspective. Do you not know that in a get the prize. Who models the way we should run to get the prize? Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." The ultimate goal is to take on the mindset of Jesus. When we accept the salvation he gave us by dying on the cross for our sins, believing in that, our soul is saved and we will get to spend eternity with God. God has won our soul. Nothing matters more than that. How have you seen God winning this week? Praying for you, Dave Ramsey. God bless.