It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, as long as you tried your best.

Those words have been said more times that any of us can count, but I don’t think they make much of a difference in the moment. No one likes to lose. The words of Ricky Bobby tend to line up with how most of us feel when we don’t succeed, “If you ain’t first, you’re last.” Maybe you lost the game or the work you put into a huge project was not recognized. Maybe you were not called back for a second interview or someone else got the promotion you were shooting for. The fact is that losing is inevitable and even the top performers do not retire with a perfect record.

I apologize if I have dampened your day. My goal here is not to be overly negative, but to shed light on the level playing field that we are all on. No one is perfect. It says in Romans that “all have sinned.” Sometimes in life, your best is not enough. When it comes to eternity, no one’s best is enough. You cannot just follow your conscious and expect to experience the eternity in the presence of The Creator of all things.

It is true that in this life, winning isn’t everything. That’s another line that is often used to try to make people feel better after a tough loss, but it applies to the winner as well. Even if you win the game, get the promotion, and are recognized for all of your hard work, those victories are only temporary. It won’t be long before the next game, your next performance appraisal, and the next big project you have to get done with limited time and resources.

The only lasting victory is through Jesus Christ. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he writes about keeping the faith in the same thought as fighting the good fight and finishing the race:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

2 Timothy 4:7 NIV (emphasis added)

The author of Hebrews also points towards Jesus Christ as the path to everlasting victory.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV (emphasis added)

Your best may or may not be enough for the battles of this life, but it is definitely not enough in regards to eternity. Faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to finish the race victoriously. He is the only way to the Father.