Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Is Winning Always Worth It? | Joshua 7:1-5

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. I'm Tanya Wilman. And I'm Patrick Miller. Right now, we're going through the Book of Joshua. Also, if you want to connect with us, follow us on Twitter at TMBT podcast. You can also check out our hashtag, hashtag, AskT, TMBT, where you can ask us anything, and we'd love to connect with you. Do you have a win at all costs attitude?

Starting point is 00:00:34 Yeah, me too. Now, I want to step away from that for a second and talk about what I've been enjoying recently, which is watching the Olympics over the past few weeks. Now, you've probably been doing the same thing, and maybe you've been tracking along with the story of Simone Biles. And I couldn't help but think of her as I was reading Joshua 7, a story about winning and losing. Now, this story actually tells us about Israel's first loss. In fact, it's only loss and defeat in the book of Joshua. And it's a defeat which is caused by one person's choices. Now, I don't want to be misunderstood. So let me say what seems to be clear about the whole Simone Biles thing now that the dust has settled. When Simone Biles was doing the vault, if you actually watch it, the live commentators all begin to point out that it seems like she's getting lost in the air. And sure enough, when she gets off, she goes and she talks to her coach and she withdraws herself from the competition. Now, a reporter comes up to the coach and says, hey, is this physical or mental? And the coach answers the question, it's mental. Now, this lights a crazy fire. storm. How could Simone Biles bail on her team for mental reasons? Now, what's come out since then is that, yes, it was mental, but not the kind of mental that people were thinking of. It wasn't anxiety or depression. It was something that gymnast and fighter pilots call the twisties. It's when you get lost in the air. You can't tell which way is up and which way is down, which is exactly what the commentators were saying was happening to Simone as she was doing the vault. And so it turns out that it was mental, though not the kind of of mental that people thought it was. And this was underlined, by the way, by the fact that Simone came back out and she cheered on her team and she had a great spirit. Now, she eventually lost the Twisties and she did her balance being routine, which won bronze. Now, again, I'm not here to try and debate specifics with you. It seems to me like she was literally unable to compete. What I actually want to go back to, what I find more interesting is the firestorm. You see,

Starting point is 00:02:29 it's tapped into this collective anger we all feel whenever we think that one person, decisions could cost us all a collective win. And we always tend to feel that when there's a lot on the line. I mean, the more that's on the line, the more indignant we feel. If Simone Biles had pulled out for just purely personal reasons, and she had cost her team, even her entire nation, a gold medal, well, that's a kind of injustice that for whatever reason we all feel viscerally. Even though that's not what happened in this case, it is what a lot of us thought happened for at least a brief period of time. Why did we feel that anger? Why did we feel that frustration? Well, it's because winning really matters to us. It really matters to you. It really matters to me. And this takes us back to Joshua

Starting point is 00:03:15 7. When one person really does sin, it doesn't just cost a win. It costs lives. Let's pick up in Joshua 7, verse 1. The Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things. Aiken, son of Karmie, the son of Zimri, the son of Zara, of the triune, of the tribe. tribe of Judah, took some of them, some of these devoted things, and so Yahweh's anger burned against Israel. So check this out. One person, Aiken, he makes the decision to disobey Yahweh. By hoarding up valuables that he had found in previous conquests, we find out later that he apparently saw these battles as an opportunity to win personally, to enrich himself. He had secretly hidden gold and silver and valuable clothing, and no one knew. But what was the

Starting point is 00:03:59 cost for Aiken to just win personally. Well, it turns out a group of warriors, they end up going into a battle against a city called I. And Yahweh, he's not with those warriors because of Aiken's sin. Because Aiken said, I want to win personally. Yahweh isn't with the group. We pick up in verse four. So about 3,000 went up, but they were routed by the men of I. Now remember, this is the only time that Israel loses in the book of Joshua. And this is what happened. They killed about 36 of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this, the hearts of the people melted and fear and became like water. Now, I don't know about you, but again, I love to win. It's why my wife won't play board games with me,

Starting point is 00:04:46 by the way. Maybe one day I'll be mature enough to care less about winning. And this, for whatever reason, it takes me back to a different cultural event in recent cultural history. During the 2016 Republican primaries, Donald Trump gave a speech. And he said, this. He said, we are going to win so much that you're going to be sick and tired. You're going to say, please, Mr. President, we're sick and tired of winning. Please let us have at least one loss. It's not exciting to win. And I'm going to say, no way, we're going to keep winning. And I don't care if you like it or not. That speech struck a nerve with a lot of people who felt like they were losing, losing their country, losing their life. And it told them that if you care about winning,

Starting point is 00:05:25 then this is the guy for you. Now, I, I, I, I'm really not trying to make a political or cultural point with any of these references to Simone Biles or the presidential primaries. I'm simply saying that like it or not, we love to win. We like to follow leaders who love to win. We love it when our group wins. And sometimes we will put winning above just about anything out there. You see, put yourself into Aiken's shoes.

Starting point is 00:05:51 He thought he was winning too. It was a get-rich quick scheme. And he thought no one caught him. I mean, he made it out with the gold and the silver and the silver. the clothing and no one caught him, no one except God, which tells you two things. First, winning is meaningless if you trade your soul in the process. You see, whether it's a fight with a spouse or a parent or maybe an argument over a project at work, or maybe it's a social cause that you think is just and you have to win. But if in the cause of winning, we disobey God, was it worth it?

Starting point is 00:06:25 If winning means maligning your enemies and not loving them like Jesus told you to, is it worth it? If winning means shouting loudly rather than graciously listening, is it worth it? If winning means slapping their cheek rather than turning your own cheek, is it worth it? Now that leads me to the second point, and it's the answer to the question. No, it's not worth it. The cost of Aiken's win at all costs attitude. is 36 deaths. You see, God is not with you. And he's not just not with you. He might not be with your people. God is not with you if your winning is not godly. Remember that. God is not with you

Starting point is 00:07:10 if your winning is not godly. In the short term, it might seem worth it. You might feel rich and righteous. But eventually the consequences will catch up with you and you'll reap the rewards of that ungodly victory. I think this is important for me to hear as someone who loves to win. It's important for anyone in a nation or a political party or an office that loves to win. The true path to victory is trusting God walking in his ways, even when it feels like it might lead to a short-term loss. Because in the long term, it's only possible to really win in life if God is with you. God is the one who gives the final rewards, right? You think about all these people on these Olympic stands getting their gold and silver and bronze medals. Well, at the end of time, God is the one who gives away the medals.

Starting point is 00:08:02 And he will either say of you, well done, good and faithful servant, or he'll say, I never knew you. And if you spend your life winning in ungodly ways, that's a sign that you never trusted Jesus, that you never said you can take my life, you can do with me as you. please, I'll set aside my idol of winning. I will walk with you. And in the end, that ungodly winning only leads to death and destruction. Where do you need to re-evaluate your love for winning? I know I need to do it, but you need to do it as well. Where do you need to submit to Jesus' way of life and accept the short-term loss for the long-term win? Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a

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Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Is Winning Always Worth It? | Joshua 7:1-5

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