March Madness has begun. Most college basketball teams are playing in their conference tournaments determining which teams will move on to the national “dance” – The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. College basketball is a big deal…and even bigger deal in March. All of the “hoop”-la to win that big ol’ trophy.
No NCAA Championship team began the season without a vision of how they would win enough regular season games, win the conference championship, and win their way through the national tourney to be crowned champions. No championship is won accidentally; champions win on purpose. No team just shows up to play, tosses the ball around, and plays to “make the best” of each game as it comes. Champions work hard for their championship, and they play a full season with (here comes my word again)…intentionality. From the opening practice until the buzzer of the final game they work hard with a singular goal: win the trophy.
Sadly many believers drift through life without a game plan for a successful spiritual journey. Consider the sense of purpose Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Corinthian church:
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. – 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
“So run,” he says. “I do not run aimlessly,” he testifies. “I discipline my body,” he demonstrates. Purpose. Intentionality. Vision.
What is your game plan? What are you doing to win in the important areas of your life? Your spiritual development? Your marriage? Your relationship with your kids? Other important facets of you life? What is the game plan?
Let me encourage you to answer four questions for yourself today.
- What are the most important relationships in my life?
- What would “winning” look like in each of those relationships?
- What’s the score right now in each of those relationships?
- What are one or two things I can do today to start running better in those areas?
Ask God to give you honest insight into your own life and ask Him to give you wisdom and strength to make the necessary changes to begin living intentionally in those areas. Run to win. Run with purpose. Run with self-control.