Paper Champions

Boxing has a major issue.

More than just steroids and Mike Tyson biting ears off, it has a lot of paper champions.

Boxing has created a culture where you are only great if you have no losses. That 0 is important.

Take Floyd Mayweather. 50-0. Fifty wins and zero losses.

The problem is that when you become obsessed with protecting the spotless record, you start protecting the fighter.

Promoters know they need to protect the 0. So fighters can end up taking fights they are expected to win rather than fights that they are not confident they will win.

You pick the fights you know you can win.

You protect the record.

And eventually, you can become a champion without ever proving yourself against the best.

I think Christians can do the same thing.

We can become paper champions.

We look like we have it together on paper, but we never risk anything.

Perfectionism can keep us perfectly complacent.

We do not witness because what if they say no?

We do not start the outreach because what if we do not have the money and it fails?

We do not pursue reconciliation because what if we try and it still does not work?

We do not challenge ourselves to do something bigger because what if we give everything we have and still lose?

We protect the 0.

I think part of the reason is that failure hurts differently when you actually cared.

It is easier to stomach when you never really try than to give something everything you have and it still doesn’t work out.

Because when you fully commit and still lose, it can feel like an indictment against you.

Maybe I am not good enough.

Maybe I heard God wrong.

Maybe I am not capable.

So we pick the fights we know we can win.

We phone it in.

We stay inside the boundaries of what we can accomplish in our own strength.

But it untethers us when we have enough trust in God to “lose” and still be okay.

Look at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

They were about to be thrown into a blazing furnace. They believed God could save them.

But read what they said:

“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it... But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

They believed God could deliver them.

But they did not make obedience dependent on deliverance.

Even if.

Even if we lose.

Even if we are humiliated.

Even if it does not work out.

Even if the business fails.

Even if they say no.

Even if the relationship does not recover.

We will not bow.

There is freedom in coming out of outcomes.

Outcomes do matter, but they are not in our control.

Obedience is in our control.

Our job is faithfulness.

Our job is to plant.

God is responsible for the harvest.

As I once heard a pastor say, “You are the farmer, not the Savior.”

You sow the seed.

God grows the seed.

Imagine what we would do if we stopped feeling responsible for what happens after obedience.

How many people would we talk to?

How many prayers would we pray?

How many things would we attempt?

How many seeds would we plant?

Maybe faith is not having a spotless record.

Maybe faith is being willing to step into the ring knowing you might lose.

Because a list of failed attempts is far better than a list of things you were too afraid to attempt.

Stop protecting the -0.

Spoiler alert, we win in the end anyways. The cards are stacked. The game is rigged.

On the Cross where our Savior had the ultimate “loss” we gained ultimate victory. Even in the valley. Even in the hospital room. Even at bankruptcy court. Even at the graveside.

We have such a secure, eternal victory that no loss here is final.

Victory isn’t what we fight for it’s where we fight from.

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