Running Victory Laps too Early

As I’ve watched the news unfold all that’s happening in Iran, and elsewhere, I learned something significant: don’t take victory laps too early. It seems to be a problem right now in politics. In fact, this months-in-the-signing MoU has been declared a failure, not because of good intentions or a deep desire for peace in the region, but because of a heart problem.

Untimely victory laps is my issue, too. I am prone to take victory laps the moment I see the hint of success or progress. That victory lap tends to not only be premature, but it fritzes out what energy I’d gained with the short-term progress. It’s like the crash that happens after my team almost scores in the last seconds for the win.

Early this week, I was reading one of my journals from decades ago. It’s the one that chronicles meeting my wife, dating her for six weeks and marrying before the three month mark. I love to read these entries because it reminds me how little I knew (and still know) about life, and how much I was (and am, in growing measures) ludicrously in love this woman I married 40 years ago.

This entry reminds me how quickly what we think is important can fade from memory. The entry right before I met Susan, I mention another girl I met at a conference in Dallas. That’s the last anyone ever reads about her in any of my journals. When I’ve got the real deal, why waste ink on something else.

The same entry records my end-of-day prayer. I talk to God about victories and struggles; most, honestly, were interrelated. Some of the victories I still fight for; some of the struggles I still repent of. 

 As I wrote this entry years ago, I probably thought I could hear the cheering from the sidelines as I took the extra lap (and at the same time, hear my own voice nudging me toward what I desperate help I needed.)

Too often, my victory lap turns into a victory lapse. 

That’s because I have two heart problems: I look to the crowd to validate my importance or I look to myself for the measure of success. I make choices because that’s what others expect; or I buy in to the belief that my win for the day has permanence. 

Here’s the Bible’s wake up call to me: “Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.”  Yeah, that’s a heart problem and not a faith problem. My faith can grow but the measuring, the evaluating, is informed by God’s character, provision, and standards.

If that doesn’t sober me up before the premature victory lap, the same place in the Bible says this: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” I get this one, too. Don’t let the crowd set my standards; don’t run for them. Instead, run after God and let him change me, even as I keep asking for His provision and grace.

Maybe, I’m better off saying, “That’s progress, let’s see how it goes and trust in God.” Celebrate the moment but don’t run too far around the track with arms raised!

Heart problems are difficult to overcome. Like what’s happening with the whole Iran/Middle East mess. If one’s drive is solely to meet another’s standards that call for the destruction of others, maybe a new drive is needed for that person – one that submits to the standards of the God who loves and forgives. And if an honest evaluation is needed – one that sees this isn’t working, this isn’t right, or this won’t end well – maybe a change of  mind is in order. 

Pray for the Middle East, for the people of Iran, and for this writer, that heart healing is coming.

(Bible verses are from the New Living Translation, Romans 12)