931 Either Way, We Win

We’re all in a battle. A battle to move forward. A battle to get better. A battle to overcome our own bad habits. A battle to find our way. But, there are even greater battles happening here. Battles for life. Yes, practically every family is currently touched by a battle to survive. A life hangs in the balance, and we feel so out of control to swing that life towards surviving. We pray, and people are still dying. But my sister, this is nothing new. People die. Since the beginning of time, lifetime’s expire. It is a lifeTIME because life has a time to begin and a time to end. There is a timeline to life, it is not infinite. Ecclesiastes 3: 1-2 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heaves: a time to be born and a time to die.” Nope, you don’t escape that. We’re all here experiencing a living death. While we’re alive, we’re in the process of expiring. Let us keep life in proper perspective so we can live it with proper priority. Yesterday I watched a mother tell the story of her son at his funeral. Carson was a vibrant and courageous young man who battled cancer and died earlier this month. The stories his mother told were fantastic. Stories of his winning spirit, competitive nature, and adventure filled life. But the best story of Carson is the one I want to share with you today. As Carson battled, enduring over a year of every kind of treatment available, he came to terms with the reality that he may not survive. One day he asked his mom if she would still believe in God if he didn’t make it. Without hesitation she told him, “no matter what, I will still believe. I will believe because I know heaven is real.” The mother had a vision a few years prior to Carson ever becoming sick. God came and whispered to her and said, “come with me, I want to show you something.” Before her she saw yellow golden skies and a feeling of total and complete joy like nothing she had ever experienced before. She knew she was getting a glimpse of heaven, and it was real. Now with her son’s life hanging in the balance, she knew if the battle was lost, heaven is without a doubt real because she had already seen it. In Carson’s final days of life, he woke up and excitedly shared these 4 words: EITHER WAY, I WIN! What had he seen? What had he just experienced? Perhaps he too had seen those golden yellow skies and the immense feeling of joy. He too had gotten a glimpse of the paradise awaiting him, and he knew living would be awesome, but dying wouldn’t be bad. Either way, he wins. There is so much more to life than what we have here and now. This is all temporary my friends, but eternity awaits! And because of Jesus, WE WIN! The ultimate battle has already been fought and Jesus declared we’re on the winning team with him. On the other side of this, YOU WIN! Remember that. Life here was never meant to last forever. That’s not the purpose of your lifetime. 1 Corinthians 9:25 “All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.” Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians. They understood competition and prizes. Near their city of Corinth, one of the most famous Greek athletic festivals was held. It was the Greek Olympics where the best of the best competed. The prize for victory earned by all their hard work in training and discipline, was a pine wreath placed on their head. Within a week, the wreath would wither and all the work training for the next year’s competition would begin again. But there is a wreath of thorns that has been worn for us. The brow of Jesus bore the crown on the cross where victory was declared. And that victory was for you and I! So, we win! We win, not because we’re the best, the fastest,