Quote

Success is on the same road as failure; success is just a little further down the road.

- Jack Hyles

Real Life

In 2021, the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA championship, however they haven’t made it to the championship finals since.  At a recent interview, Bucks player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, was asked if the Bucks season had been a failure.

He answered, “Do you get a promotion every year? In your job? No, right? So every year you work is a failure? Yes or no? No. Every year you work, you work towards something, towards a goal…it’s not a failure. It’s steps to success… Michael Jordan played 15 years, won six championships. The other nine years was a failure?... There’s no failure in sports. There’s good days, bad days. Some days you are able to be successful – some days you’re not.  Some days it’s your turn, some days it’s not your turn. That’s what sport is about. You don’t always win…”

Sometimes we can let a result define how we feel about our performance and even how we feel about ourselves. That mindset is not a healthy space to be in. Sport is so much more than just the result, and each one of us as individuals is worth so much more than just our performance.

When Antetokounmpo was asked the question about failure, he looked frustrated because to classify a whole season as either a success or failure is limited in perspective. It doesn’t take into account the many factors in sport that are so valuable. We need to be careful how we classify our performance and especially ourselves. Categories like success and failure do not take into consideration the more important factors of true worth as those created by God in his image. God values us and loves us irrespective of our performance or results. What’s more He uses our mistakes and weaknesses to grow and develop us and make us more like Him.  Sport and life are about so much more than just success or failure, and so are we.

Bible Verse

But [God] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”…That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses...in hardships…in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Prayer

Thank You Lord that I am so much more valuable than just my performance, help me to remember the infinite worth You have placed in me, irrespective of results.

Author: Sarah Auld   |   Content Editor: Phil Pawley