LIFE’S WINNING EDGE
1
Corinthians 9:24-25
Do
you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?
Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes
into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do
it to get a crown that will last forever.
Y.A. Tittle, the great quarterback who played for
the San Francisco Forty-Niners and later for the New York Giants, learned early
in his high school years the importance of getting every winning edge he could
get in order to play good football. His high school coach wanted a winning
team, and this meant one thing – the need for self-control in all things.
Later in his career, during a crucial game against
the Detroit Lions, San Francisco was behind, 17-14. With only a few minutes
left, Y.A. faked two passes and ran the ball for the winning touchdown. Without
self-control such a last-minute victory would not have been possible.
When you
watch a quarterback, you think of self-control. When the pressure is on,
everything depends upon the quarterback because he is the one who calls the
plays and controls the game. If you want to be a successful athlete, you need
to have control over all your emotions. Self-control is what gives us life’s
winning edge. The question is: Am I going to control life, or is it going to
control me?
May God help us not to be too busy to take advantage
of spare hours in which to develop our physical, mental and spiritual abilities
for His glory.
Meditations for Servicemen, By William E. Parsons,
Jr., pgs. 29-30.