Honor Grief. Honor God.
Author, mentor, sports broadcaster, and former MLB pitcher Paul Byrd shared about defeating the disappointment of success. What happens when we actually achieve all the goals we set for ourselves? Often times, if we’re honest, the feelings are fleeting and the happiness is not lasting.
To be fulfilled in the emptiness of our success, Paul gave us two things to soak up. First, we need to honor our grief—whether it comes from a loss or a victory. We need to embrace our emotions. It’s okay to be hurt when you’ve been hurt. As athletes, we can too easily project a (false) stoic persona that betrays how our Creator God wired us to be human.
Jesus exhibited the range of emotions just like we do. He is our great High Priest who able to sympathize with weaknesses because He was tempted in every way like us, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:14-16) Being emotional is not wrong or bad. To grieve and lament is human—and with God, it can even be holy. Honor your grief. Honor your God.
Second, Paul helped us reorient our pursuits and purposes to be aligned with godly goals. Speaking from personal experience, Paul has achieved great success—national college championships, major league contracts, fame, fortune, etc.—but it was often but it was often accompanied by great emptiness…until God invaded His life and began to transform Paul into a holy vessel used for God’s glory, and not Paul’s glory.
“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body…your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you…you are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1st Corinthians 6:12-19)
It’s not that we shouldn’t have good, lofty goals and strive to passionately pursue them, but we need to make sure our ultimate pursuits are prioritized according to how we’ve been designed. And to do that, we must know this incredible, intelligent Designer.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!” (Psalm 111:10)
Here are some of Paul’s new life goals…
I want to know how loved I am by Christ and love Him back as authentically as I can.
I want to experience what it means to be a child of God, accepted as I am, and loved too much to stay the same.
I want to be a great husband to my wife.
I want to hear my Father-God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)
There’s more to this life than we can see, taste, touch, and feel, and because we’re made for something more.
“Our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world. . . . When the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognize it.
Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world.
There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. . .
If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
(C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)
