If you have followed basketball over the last forty years, you likely remember the time a reporter asked a young Michael Jordan about why he tried to score so much. Jordan’s Chicago Bulls were winning a lot of games, and he was leading the league in points per game. But he was simultaneously criticized for taking too many shots and not being a team player. When the question was posed to Jordan, the reporter framed it by saying “There is no I in team”. To which Jordan replied, “But there is in win”.

The idea of winning in sports is solely based on outcomes. The team that scores the most points in basketball, football, or baseball. The participant who has the fastest time in swimming, track, or running a marathon. The individual with the lowest stroke total in golf. In auto racing, the winner is the car and driver that crosses the finish line first. The late Dale Earnhardt, Sr. once finished second in a big Nascar race and famously expressed his disgust by saying, “Second place is simply the first loser”.

What does it mean to be a winner in how we live out our faith? Living a life of commitment to the ordinances of God isn’t supposed to be a competition, but at times the Church can create a system of zealous judgement or a misguided understanding of whom God favors. In athletic competition when the more talented or gifted team loses to a seemingly inferior opponent, we call that an “upset”. In our assessment of fairness when God offers grace, we will get upset when someone is granted forgiveness for a sin we perceive is worse than our own.

This is where grace levels the playing field. Grace allows us to see one another beyond the results of one act or one aspect of who we are. Earlier this week, when the Indiana Pacers had eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks from the playoffs, a reporter asked the Bucks star player, Giannis Antetokounmpo (who had led Milwaukee to the NBA championship in 2021) if the season was a failure since they did not win the league championship.

Antetokounmpo offered an exasperated reply, recalling how the same reporter had asked the same exact question at the end of the 2024 season, when the Bucks also did not win the championship. He expressed disappointment in losing in the first round of the playoffs. He took accountability for not playing as well as he should have, but he took exception to labeling the entire season a failure. Did they achieve their ultimate goal…no. But was it a failure…absolutely not. Antetokounmpo listed many positive attributes to the season, and acknowledged that losing provided motivation to improve, which he pledged to do.

While the world looks at the results and labels us a winner or a loser, grace claims the blessings received and lessons learned throughout the game of life. Does grace mean everyone gets a trophy…not at all. Sometimes our best teacher can be the wisdom we glean from falling short, making mistakes, or being humbled because someone else is faster, stronger, or just worked harder.  We should never devalue ourselves simply because we don’t finish first. But we also should not whine because we didn’t get a trophy, a medal, or even a participation ribbon. Sins are certainly a mistake of a certain ilk, but everybody is guilty of them on any given day. In Christ, we can claim the grace we are given…and try again.

Both of my sons attended a Montessori school in their earliest years of education. At the beginning of each school day, they recited their student creed: “I am an important person in this world. Now is the most important time in my life. My mistakes are my best teachers, so I will be fearless.”

There’s always tomorrow, or next season…may we be fearless!