“Not winning is in fact more powerful than winning,” Professor Monica Wadhwa argues. Her research reveals that people tend to be most energized and motivated not when they win but when they almost win. Falling just short of one’s ambitions tends to give people the motivation to keep growing and striving. Easy victories, on the other hand, tend to cripple energy and motivation.
Wadhwa’s perspective gives fresh insight into Paul’s analogy used in two passages that compare following Christ to running a race: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 and Philippians 3:12-14. In both instances, Paul emphasizes that believers ought to give their pursuit of Christ and the gospel their all, “straining toward what is ahead” (Philippians 3:13) and running “in such a way as to get the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24).
The paradoxical truth is that what we’re striving for—faithfully sharing the gospel (v. 23) and knowing Christ (Philippians 3:8)—aren’t things we can ever say we’ve achieved. We’ll always fall short. We’ll never be able to say we’ve “already arrived” (v. 12).
But that’s okay—because it’s the experience of drawing ever closer to Christ that matters. It’s only His strength that empowers and motivates us to pour our whole hearts into pursuing Him—the one who will one day carry us to victory.
How have you experienced growth through falling short? How can falling short encourage you to rely on Christ?
Dear God, thank You that I don’t need to fear falling short, but that You use these moments to continually draw me closer to You.
For further study, read Why Is Confession So Hard?
The athletic imagery of running a race used in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 is also seen in Hebrews 12:1-2. The Greek word trechō, translated “run,” is used in both passages. We’re to “run in such a way as to get the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24) and “run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1). The “great cloud of witnesses” (v. 1) included the “sometimes winning, sometimes losing” Old Testament believers. Though perfection will continue to elude us, as we “[fix] our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (v. 2), we can grow in faith and endurance.
