Choosing to be a Champion

The choices you make and the decisions you take, will effect the outcome of every difficulty (or challenge) that comes your way. Your choices can make the difference between you being a champion or ‘also ran’ - winner or a looser. The choices you make frame your future and shape your destiny. However, if you are to live as a champion, you ought to make the very same choices that a champion makes.

Your inherent potential to succeed will be given many opportunities to prove itself through the course of your lifetime. Champions come in all shapes, sizes and colours. They face adversity in all of its various forms with boldness through complete trust in God. They are not the ‘lucky’ or ‘trouble free’ people you have been led to believe they are. Champions overcome, not as a result of where they were born, where they went to school, or what’s happened to them in life. The primary success ingredient on the life of a champion is the “choices” he / she makes. It’s your life - it’s your choice!

(1) Whoever chooses to be a champion empowers himself with the will to win. To be or not to be a success, that is the question! And until that question is answered your will to win is on hold. After you’ve asked yourself what it is you really want to do, you should ask yourself, “Have I really decided to do it against all odds and will I do whatever it takes?” This can be anything from loosing weight to succeeding in business. But, it start with a quality decision.

(2) The day you make a decision about your life is the day your world will change. When you decide to do something, the will to accomplish it is given direction. Your will is a mighty force waiting to receive direction. Note, the more definite your direction is, the greater your willpower. However, all this hinges on the choice factor. Have you truly made a choice? And is this choice and informed choice or an emotional choice?

(3) An undecided person will never tap into the strength of the human will. For example, many people are not sure whether they can be champions (they don’t genuinely believe in their own potential). They may say they really want to succeed, but are never sure they can. But the question isn't whether you can do it or not. The question is, have you decided to do it!

Joshua 24:15 reminds us, “If serving the Lord seems undesirable, then we must choose for ourselves this day whom we will serve.” Many people have not chosen to break the cycle of poverty in their lives. The question is not, “Can I do it?” The question is, “Have I decided to do it?”

(4) When you make a quality decision, then your will to overcome propels you toward your goal. All of us have something we want to be a ‘champion’ over but a lack of willpower will always be present until you make a positive choice – you must choose to be a champion. It’s no good thinking it’s just a good idea, you must truly desire it and then move toward it. The proof of desire is pursuit.

(5) Your choice to be a champion is founded on the acceptance of God’s promises. God’s word says you are champion – an overcomer. This truth should settle it, both in your mind and in your heart. The choice to be a champion is futile and lacks credibility unless it’s based on what God thinks of you. How you feel is unimportant! You may not always feel like a champion or behave like a champion. But God’s Word says you are, and that settles it!

You may even loose battles, but according to God’s Word, the believer can never loose the war. You are destined to win! “In all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” - Romans 8:37. “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” - 1 John 5:4. Remember this, when you get into the Word, the Word will get into you.

(6) A true champion will never magnify his personal weaknesses. Invariably, people who hesitate to make “choices” are people who are looking into the face of their own weaknesses. All they can see is their past failures. But true champions accept God’s Word and instead they gaze intently at the victory beyond the circumstances. Such people will succeed in life and experience peace and contentment. They are true champions of God!

Finally, there are two essential ingredients in the make up of every champion:

(a) The ability to take a punch, and

(b) The ability to give a punch.

The ability to take punishment is essential to being a champion. Champions are disciplined and determined, and they have learnt to overcome their fears and confront every issue head on. Adversity is the breeding ground for victory. So champions simply make an extra attempt; an extra effort when necessary.

However, a champion must be more than a punching bag, he must be able to counter attack and fight back. Paul knew about this, “We are hard pressed on very side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” [2 Corinthians 4:8].

(7) The difference between winning and loosing is simply giving up. You must develop a “comeback” mentality. Because, what you fail to overcome will eventually overcome you. So it’s important to counter-attack. Defeats may come and go, and this will probably never change. But, for you, defeat should be one of the things that you strive to manage amidst the expectation that, even when down, you are able to make a spectacular comeback. Therefore, you should always be on the rebound – always bouncing back. When one foot is entangled in defeat, the other should already be moving on; looking for that “winning streak of one!” Just one win after any defeat is all it takes to get you back on top. Champions never (ever) give up!

Chris Demetriou, 05/08/2007