Winning the Trophy

I have been celebrating just over a week.  I have followed and cheered for the San Antonio Spurs since their schedule began last year.   Now MY Spurs are the Champions of the NBA for 2014.  This is the fifth time they have won the trophy in fifteen years.  Excitement is still in the air, and coffee shop conversations are still centered around the Spurs victory.

I noticed several weeks ago that it seemed everyone was more excited about the Spurs winning this year.  I have supported them during other winning seasons, but for some reason, this year was more important.  Just the fact they claimed the Championship is a tremendous feat, but there were also various individual and team records broken through the finals. 

If you follow me on social media, you will also be aware of how this championship had a positive effect on me.  This past Saturday, I had the privilege of slipping three Spurs championship rings on my own fingers.  A friend of mine is a statistician for the Spurs organization, and brought his rings from 2003, 2005, and 2007 and I got to put them all on my hand. (He didn't join the Spurs until 2000, so he doesn't have the 1999 ring, and the 2014 rings will not be handed out until this fall.)

All of us like to be winners.  We work hard for success.  We are prone to see victory and success in the lives of others and develop the feelings of envy, because we like to win, too.  Even the Word of God has segments which encourage us to be winners.  One is from the pen of Paul who says, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing."  I like Paul's expression of confidence and trust in God because our God has promised his children the eternal reward.  The crown is ours because of the righteousness of Jesus.  We not only have God's promise, but we have the Holy Spirit right now, as a guarantee. 

Here's another verse for you.  "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world-- our faith."  We who are born of God are overcomers.  We have overcome the world.  That is the real victory and we can experience victorious lives because we are born of God. 

There is a remarkable difference between the Spurs winning the NBA trophy and us having a crown awarded to us.  The Spurs earned theirs, we cannot possibly earn ours.  The Spurs fought long, hard battles on basketball courts all across our country to win.  Even the very strongest among us could never fight hard enough to claim victory on his own.

You see, the crown of righteousness Paul described, is our crown, but the righteousness is from Jesus.  The victory of overcoming the world is ours because we are born of God. 

I rejoiced with my team, the Spurs, when they won the trophy.  I rejoice with the angels when sinners repent and turn to God.  One of our old hymns has a line, "Faith is the victory that overcomes the world."

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