Champion or Critic

In true Canadiana-fashion, the residents of Calgary greeted the new school year with an overzealous dump of snow. I was not as excited about it as my six-year-old son! He returned home from school that day raving about the awesome snowman he and his new buddies had built during recess. I wasn't able to see it, he told me, because it was no longer there. The ‘big kids’ tore it down after the grade ones went inside.

Visibly unimpressed, I wiped the disgust off my face and encouraged my kiddo with the fact that those big kids just gave him and his buddies the opportunity to build an even bigger and better snowmen. “Yeah, I know mom” my son said and continued to weed out a snack from the refrigerator.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced similar situations with varying magnitude! How many times have you given of your heart, strength, and mind only to be met with destructive opposition?

It seems our reality-tv obsessed society has created a culture of couch-sitting, button-clicking critics. People outside of the ring who hurl their two cents even without being asked. The problem is sometimes those trivial coins can hit ya right in the eye and blind you for a moment, or even a lifetime.

Look what Theodore Roosevelt has to say about this:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause."

I wholeheartedly agree with Roosevelt’s statement. Yet far too often I have seen men and women with enormous potential sidelined by the poisonous sting of criticism, or worse yet, dead in their own tracts and poisoning others with their toxic negative ‘opinions’!

Let me be clear, I’m not talking about positive criticism that is sincerely intended to encourage an individual to achieve more. I’m talking about the cheap criticism that is so often fuelled by jealousy, insecurity, and fear. It is from small minded people and breeds small minded thinking.

Ain’t nobody got time fo’ that! (Nobody that’s gonna do anything in this world anyway!)

So how do we choose to respond to the haters?

I think the answer is actually quite simple. We simply choose what’s better. We choose love.

Most of us have pigeonholed 1 Corinthians 13 in the Bible as the token ‘love chapter’. We designate its application to weddings and anniversaries but fail to see the roadmap to successful living. Right in the middle of one of the most recited and recognized passages of scripture lay the blueprint of a champion’s heart:

“[it] never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” (vs. 7)

A champion’s heart is empowered by what the Bible depicts as love, or to be more specific… empowered by the One who calls Himself love; God - (1John 4:8).

Stop and consider that for a moment! Champions are made to be champions by walking in the character and attributes of God. No champion stumbles across the finish line by accident! They discipline themselves in faith, knowing that what could be, can only be, by choosing again and again to persevere in the face of opposition. By choosing all of the qualities listed from verses 1Corinthians 13: 4-7. They choose the greater.

The reality is that there will always be ‘big kids’ that race onto the scene to find great pleasure in tearing apart what has been lovingly built. A champion will choose to rebuild in the face of destruction while a victim will choose to complain. We are all given the same choice, have you made yours?

Champion or victim?

In the face of betrayal Jesus responds with forgiveness. He returns kindness for cruelty and shakes awake LIFE in the attempts of death! The ultimate overcomer, the ultimate champion! Even at His execution, Jesus hung and prayed for those who drove nails into His hands. With unbearable opposition and the weight of the world upon His shoulders, He always chose the better, He always chose love. He is our example.

Opposition is almost a certainty if you're planning to do anything of real value and sometimes your biggest critic is yourself! Do not be your own obstacle!

Don't give up on your standard of purity while you wait for a spouse, don't believe your marriage is dead and done. Don't believe your business idea will never succeed, or that you'll never reach your weight loss goal. Don't believe you'll never amount to anything, don't believe you're too much, or you're not enough. Don't believe the accuser when he comes!

Because when you choose the heart of a champion, you make a choice to become a man or woman that can be used greatly by God.

If God has given you a big dream, do something about it - TODAY, right now! One step at a time!

Don’t give up, don’t lose faith, remain hopeful and stand where you are today in strength!

There’s further for you to run, bigger and better things to build, and victory waiting at the finish line! Remember, when temptation comes to complain or retaliate or just plain quit, there is a better choice.

There is a champion’s choice, there is a choice to love.

Sharon Williams
Pastor Victory Outreach