WINNER, NOT WHINER
Bro. Eddie C. Villanueva
September 2010
In the devotional Day by Day by Charles Swindoll, the respected pastor and founder of Insight for Living recounted his conversation with a businessman.
“How does a person get wisdom? I realize we are to be men of wisdom, but few people ever talk about how it is acquired,” Pastor Swindoll asked his companion this question when the subject of wisdom kept on popping up in their discussion.
“Pain” was the quick and to-the-point answer he got from the man.
Based on our own unpredictable life experiences, I believe that we can all but agree with him.
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Pain is not new to us. It touches our lives regardless of who we are, who we know, what we have, what we know. To some extent, pain is considerably a phenomenal life equalizer. For while forms and degrees may differ, rich and poor both get acquainted with it just the same.
However, while it is true that we all know pain, not all of us know how to respond rightly to it. Now, this is where the delineation line separates the winners from the whiners. Whereas there are those who gather strength out of their pains, there are also those who just wallow in them. Clearly, therefore, our response to pain determines whether we swim or sink in the river of our desperate situation.
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Let us consider the whiners first.
A whiner is a person who is given to excessive complaints and crying and whining. In simple terms, a whiner is a constant complainer.
I believe we don’t have to look far to see a whiner. Most possibly, we turn into one, wittingly or unwittingly, when we feel like we have reached the end of our rope or the whole world is against us.
Constant complaining, however, does us no good; it produces in us nothing but pessimism. Consider this: Negative confessions only reinforce negative thoughts that foster negative feelings, which sooner or later, only lead to negative actions.
The psalmist probably knew too well the ill-effects of whining and complaining that he earnestly prayed, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).
Caught between a rock and a hard place, so to speak, we can choose to do more than curse our difficult situation. Instead of whining, we can choose to come out of our bad experience as better individuals. How do we do this?
Let us consider the winners now.
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William Arthur Ward, said to be one of America’s most quoted writer of inspirational maxims, gave a powerful illustration of a winner. To him, “The experienced mountain climber is not intimidated by a mountain – he is inspired by it. The persistent winner is not discouraged by a problem – he is challenged by it. Mountains are created to be conquered; adversities are designed to be defeated; problems are sent to be solved…”
A winner, therefore, is a person who is objective in his appreciation of his situation, informed in his approach to a problem, and positive in his response to life.
An objective appreciation of our situation makes us look at our problems, including the toughest ones, with the eyes of faith. Instead of further complicating matters by our negative imaginings, we look forward to the beautiful end result of our every situation because God is able to make all things work together for our good (Romans 8:28).
When we truly understand that the plan of God for our lives is to prosper us and not to harm us (Jeremiah 29:11), we are empowered to approach our problems with the confidence that there is hope even in the midst of life’s seeming impossibility. Because nothing is too difficult for Him to do (Luke 1:37).
James 1:2-4 counsels us, “My brothers and sisters, when you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience. Let your patience show itself perfectly in what you do. Then you will be perfect and complete and will have everything you need.”
James’ words lead us back on the right track. Pains, troubles, and tests in life are meant to produce in us patience, maturity, and wisdom. If we respond correctly to the tests of our faith, “we will be perfect and complete and will have everything you need.”
Now, that is the winner’s life in its fullness.
God bless you!