You can, by understanding and applying what winning really involves. This article explains the common definations of winning and losing and shows how they can actually hinder your athletic performance. A new perspective on winning and losing will be explained that, when applied, can improve your athletic performance immediately.

The most widely accepted definition of winning is to defeat your opponent. It naturally follows, then, that the common definition of losing is to be defeated by your opponent. These definitions have been ingrained in us from childhood. In the following three hypothetical situations you will see how these common definitions of winning and losing can hinder your athletic performance.

You are a volleyball player training for an opponent who has not been having a good season. Your team has been enjoying a very successful season with many victories and few defeats. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that you are the better team. How would you train for the upcoming competition against your weaker opponent?

1. I would train just as determined and disciplined as I would if we were going up against the conference champion.
2. I would be a little less disciplined for the game.

Imagine yourself as a wrestler who is well behind in a match against a stronger opponent. He not only is stronger than you, but he has superior technique and speed. You are behind 15 to 3 with two minutes remaining. What would your attitude be in this situation?

1. I would still be going all out towards defeating him.
2. I would have lost some of my desire to go on.

Proverbs 23:7 gives us some good insight as to what your actions would be if you were mentally letting up; "For as a man thinks within himself, so he is." This means that what you have on your mind will eventually surface in your actions. If you have slackened your mental intensity, your physical actions will show it. You are capable of releasing more of yourself, but you don't because you have no hope of defeating your opponent. Athletic ability is improved only when that ability is exercised. Again, the common definition of winning has allowed the circumstances to dictate how much of your ability will be exercised.

You are a baseball player coming to bat against a well known pitcher who is regarded as the best in the league. He knows that he's good and he confidently glares at you as you step toward the plate. You aren't the best hitter in the league. In fact, you aren't even the best on your team. You've had poor results against him in the past, and you are presently in a batting slump. What would be your attitude as you face him?

1. I would be confident I would get a hit.
2. I would be wondering if I would even see the ball.

Nervousness usually causes a loss of timing, rhythm and coordination. It's the confident athlete who consistently produces the best. The common definition of winning tells you that you must get a hit off of him. It causes you to focus on the pitcher rather than on the execution of your skills.

The Bible gives us God's perspective on winning and losing. It is different from the world's interpretation of them. As you make His perspective yours, you will be free to always do the best you are capable of doing, regardless of the circumstances.

God's Perspective on Winning and Losing

Winning is the total release of all that you are toward becoming like Jesus Christ in each situation.

Losing is not releasing your entire self toward becoming like Jesus Christ in each situation.

What a difference this is from the long ingrained definition of winning and losing! When you have God's perspective on winning and losing, circumstances will not control your athletic performance!

Building Block No. 1

"Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men." (Colossians 3:23)

The word "whatever" includes everything you do in your athletic performance whether it is running, throwing, jumping, etc. The world "heartily" means you do it by totally releasing all of your abilities toward the task at hand. It involves much more that just your strength. For instance, if you were a golfer ready to stroke a two foot putt, you would be leaving your mental abilities behind if you pulled back your putter and drove the ball with all your strength!

If we were to stop at this point it would sound pretty much like the philosophy, "Just give it all you've got and you're a winner." But we're not going to stop here, because God doesn't. That is not what Colossians 3:23 says. It is not just a matter of "giving it all you've got." It's doing it "as for the Lord rather than for men." Jesus Christ is to be your only audience! We so oftern perform for other people - fans, coaches, scouts, TV cameras, etc. We want their approval.

Picture Jesus Christ as the only one in the stands. That's how God wants you to perform! He wants you to picture Jesus Christ as your only audience! What a trill it would be to perform only for Him! Colossians 3:23 says that whatever you're doing in your athletic performance you're to do it with the total release of all your mental and physical abilities, as well as all of your emotional energies, with Jesus Christ as your only audience!

Building Block No. 2

"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father." (Colossians 3:17).

Here again, we have the phrase "whatever you do." Again it includes everything you do in your role as an athlete. How are you to do it? Do it all "in the name of the Lord Jesus." This phrase means you are to totally represent Jesus by saying and doing only those things He would say or do in that situation. It means you are to have His attitude in everything you do in your athletic performance! You can see how important it is to know Him. Without knowing Jesus, you cannot consistently have His attitude.

Here is an athletic paraphrase: "Conduct yourself in word and action the same way Jesus Christ would conduct Himself (Colossians 3:17). Do whatever you do with the total release of your mental and physical abilities, as well as your emotional energies, towards performing like Jesus. Have in mind that He is your only audience" (Colossians 3:23-24).

Winning Amplified

To evaluate whether or not you are totally releasing everything you had, athletes will tend to compare your present performance with those of the past, or expectations of the future. Don't let that sway you!

What you have will vary from time to time due to sickness, injuries, rest, etc. Your responsibility in working out, or in competition is to give all that you have, at a given moment, not what you don't have! The apostle Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 8:12:

"If you are really eager to give, then it isn't important how much you have to give. God wants you to give what you have, not what you have not."

Remember, from the world's viewpoint, when Jesus hung dead on the cross, it looked as though He had been defeated and was a loser. Yet, His crucifixion provided a setting for the greatest event in history to take place. On the third day, He defeated death and was raised from the sealed and guarded tomb. His resurrection from the dead demonstrated His power available to us enabling us to live above our circumstances!

The First Step in Becoming a Winner

Before you can experience winning from God's perspective you need to have a personal relationship with Him. Click here to find out how you can experience a personal relationship with Jesus. You need to be a Christian. A Christian is simply one who has Jesus living His life through him or her. It is humanly impossible to consistently copy the attitudes and actions of Jesus Christ. The winning athletic performance can only be lived by Jesus Himself, but it can be experience by you as He lives through you!

EDITOR'S NOTE: For seven years Wes served on the athletic staff of Campus Crusade for Christ, International. He traveled on the first Christian weightlifting team, with Athletes in Action, then headed up the field staff working with coaches across America.

In 1975 he founded the Institute for Athletic Perfection, and later Champions of Excellence, an organization that develops biblically-based resources for coaches and athletes. He is considered the pioneer in developing resources that relate the Bible to improving athletic performance.

Wes has consulted with hundreds of coaches and athletes throughout America, and is a featured speaker at athletic conferences. He and his wife live in Branson, Missouri, where they raised their two daughters.