The Stress of a Championship
Most people are fans of some sport from elementary to professional. Every team has its championship game or a game that serves as a championship. There can be a lot of hype that builds up to the championship game that can make it a stressful event, not just for the players but for the fans as well.
The stress of a championship comes for several reasons. Your team may be picked to win. That raises expectations. If your team is not picked to win, you have expectations of an upset. Players have expectations thrown on them. If you are leading your league in stats, then others expect you (and you expect yourself) to excel.
Stress also comes from the intensity of the game itself – it is, after all, a championship game. The other team is there because they earned a spot. If our teams always won because the competition was mediocre, then the win would not be nearly as sweet. In fact, it may be monotonous. The greater the competition, the sweeter the victory.
The same principle is true in our spiritual lives. The stakes are extremely high in this game we call “life.” Hell is real. It is hot. It is eternal. It is loveless. It is lifeless. It is hopeless. Nothing pure. Nothing good. Nothing holy. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Intense pain with no end. Smoke ascending forever and ever.
On the other side, the prize for faithfulness is equally intense. As bad, horrible, and dreadful as you can imagine hell, heaven is extraordinarily, infinitely, unimaginably greater. “Just one glimpse of Him in glory will all the toils of this life repay.”
Let us run with patience the race set before us, knowing that the reward will indeed be worth it all.
–Paul Holland