Four-inch plastic sports figures.
Canvas backpacks.
Bronze gloves on mahogany bases.
Wood plaques to display press clippings.
What do all these things have in common? They are all trophies, costing around $25 each, given to all kids who participate in a given sport.
They are in a word, “participation” trophies, and they’re the subject of some heated debate.
In recent years, a trend has emerged in American culture, heightened by the competition and the stress involved in kids playing sports: You show up, you get a trophy — or a ribbon, or something. Well-meaning adults, addressing the perceived need to boost children’s self-esteem, began to look for ways to even the playing field and reward all who participated, not just those who stand out.
Some stopped keeping score. Others called in psychologists to teach sportsmanship.
Still others, hoping to end the drive to outdo other teams and players, began awarding “participation” trophies to all who played, regardless of the quality of their performance. All at once, the first- place team and the last-place team, the best player and the worst player, received the same trophy for playing.
Wearing a uniform was worthy of a trophy.
Quality took a back seat to quantity, as children found their good and bad efforts equally rewarded. ‘Trophies meant only that you had played, not that you had achieved anything significant. Jane and I can testify to that, as our grandchildren show us the trophies that they got, saying: “Yeah, but everybody got a trophy, regardless of how well you played, or where their team placed: first, middle, or last. We were the best team, but all the others got trophies anyway.” Or: “I was better than…..but she/he got a trophy anyway.”
These trophies for participation created problems no one anticipated. It’s like, “Who cares?” The Fisher family children, Sarah, 12, and Jason, 14, have collected 70 trophies in their house. How can kids really take pride in their accomplishments when everyone is rewarded just for suiting up? Jack Lesyk, a Beachwood, Ohio, psychologist says it best: “If you are going to get an award anyway, the message is you don’t really have to try your best.”
Enter the apostle Paul. Here’s what he says: “Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete but only one receives the prize?” (9:24).
His audience, of course, knows precisely what he is talking about: Corinth had hosted the Isthmian Games for centuries. They would also be well aware of the Olympic Games, as are we, especially since the opening ceremonies of the 2006 version of the Olympics — the 20th Winter Olympics — took place in Turin just a couple of days ago.
So Paul reminds his readers that in these games, while many may participate, only one will get the prize. Will the U.S. hockey team get the gold, or will it be the Russians? Will Shani Davis who was the first African-American to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic speed-skating team in 2002 make it again to Turin? There’ll be luge, cross-country skiing, ski-jumping, snow-boarding, bobsled, ice hockey, speed skating, alpine skiing, figure skating, curling and more.
And — last Super Bowl Sunday, while every player got some extra cash for playing in this game, there was only one winner of Super Bowl XL, played at Ford Field in Detroit. One would have predicted that probably the Patriots and Tom Brady would be the winner. Or Peyton Manning and the Colts. You think? They didn’t even get to dress for the game!! But there is always another year, and, once again, there will be only one winner.
In the Olympics, there will be one gold medal awarded per event. Only one. No glut of gold here. One first-place winner, and only one.
But here’s the kicker: The Christian life is not the Super Bowl, or the Isthmian or Olympic games. In the Christian “Games” all those who run well, all those who “exercise self-control,” all those who “do not run aimlessly,” all those who discipline their bodies and become master of them — will be given the laurel wreath, the prize, the glory! Everyone has an opportunity to gain what Paul describes at the end of his life as a “crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8). It’s a crown, or a prize, that God will give that person, he says, because he/she has “fought the good fight, ... finished the race, ... [and] kept the faith” (4:7).
And notice that he says that his is a prize that the Lord will give him not only, but “all who have longed for his appearing” (4:8) (emphasis added).
To the Corinthians, he argues, however, that winning is going to take a lot more than “longing for his appearing.”
To be a winner, he says, you need to train and run with determination. “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training,” he notes (1 Corinthians 9:25, NIV).
You all have a chance to win, but not all of you will.
Oh, you’ll get to the Big Show, you’re already entered in the race. No question there. But will your life, your race, be about anything else?
Here, then, is Paul’s message: It matters how you live your life! It matters how you run the race! It matters how you prepare and train and conduct yourself.
You can’t just get to the event and congratulate yourself for showing up. The hard part is just beginning. In fact, the apostle points to four factors that can influence the race.
The first is self-control. “Athletes exercise self-control in all things” (9:25). A winner is someone who is able to control the self. She or he holds the reins. The self does our bidding, and not vice versa. It’s an important concept: Peter mentions it in a list of virtues (2 Peter 1:5ff). Paul includes it in his list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians (5:23).
Someone with control of self is able to say “No” to the self. That person is able to eat one potato chip, is able to complete a task although tired and bored, is able to observe social, moral and ethical boundaries in the commerce of life, is able to delay or defer or even deny gratification. A person who has self-control is a person who is going to go a long way down the track. As we near the Lenten season, one is to focus for 40 days, focus on self control, a sense of purpose, along with efficiency, and discipline.Self Control, followed by a sense of purpose. “So I do not run aimlessly” (9:26). Paul’s saying here that we’ve got to be in it to win it. If you’ve read Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life, you understand what Paul is talking about here. Without purpose, you’re not going to get very far, or if you do go far, you’ll arrive and not know where you are. If you want to pursue that further, join Pastor Jim during the Lenten season, where you can discuss and learn together about a purpose driven life!
Eighty-seven percent of Americans own running shoes but don’t run. Why? They may lack self-control, but more likely, they have no sense of purpose. They have intentions, but not purpose. There is no agenda, no plan, no vision, no strategy.
So the shoes sit there. Gather dust. We sit there. We gather dust. We lose.
Ther is self control, and a sense of purpose, and then, there’s the matter of efficiency, choosing your battles. “Nor do I box as though beating the air” (9:26). Boxer Muhammed Ali was a master of getting his opponents to wear themselves out by punching wildly or punching harmlessly. It was the so-called “Rope-a-Dope” strategy. Ali would get backed up into the ropes and let his opponents flail away. After they had done this for six or seven rounds, they tired, and Ali, relatively fresh, was more often than not able to deliver a knockout blow.
Christians in training are not about knockout blows, but they do understand the importance of conserving their energies for the things that really matter in life. They understand that one can get really, really tired of doing stupid stuff that doesn’t matter. Smart Christians invest their training and their efforts in things that build them up and make them stronger.
Finally, there’s discipline. “I punish my body and enslave it” (9:27). Here, Paul notes the pain that can be involved for those who aspire to win. It’s not to promote a sort of muscular Christianity, but instead to note that being faithful to your faith, being true to the course you’ve chosen, sometimes is going to be very painful.
Choices may be made that will cause conflict and discomfort. Positions may be taken that will invite confusion and misunderstanding. Decisions will be made that may incite reaction and dismay.
But in that pain you stay the course and you stay on the course.
And don’t think that the race is ever over. It’s not and it won’t be until that day when there’s no sunrise and no sunset.
Even Paul said that he did not consider himself to have finished the race (Philippians 3). So, let’s be careful to avoid celebrating too early with our tasks unfinished and our goals unmet.
Just remember Olympic runner, Suzy Hamilton.
On February 6, 1994, Hamilton competed in the Mobil Invitational track meet in Virginia. According to the online magazine Stuff : “Runners needed to complete eight laps to win the mile. That concept eluded Hamilton, who sprinted past the competition at the end of lap seven, then stunned the crowd by doing a Deion Sanders-style victory jig. Every other runner was still doing Mach 3 as they burned by alerting Hamilton that something was wrong. But, by then, she was three time zones behind and didn’t even bother to rejoin the race.”
Keep running. Endure the pain if necessary.
Be a winner.
`````````````````````````````````
sources:
Jeffrey, Nancy Ann. “Trophy overload.” Weekend Journal. March 11, 2005.
Relin, David Oliver. ‘“Who’s killing kids’ sports?” Parade. August 7, 2005.