There is another side to every comeback story. We love hearing comeback stories. Many movies are based on comebacks, and perhaps we have experienced some ourselves. But we might have even been on the other side of a comeback story. Maybe you were ahead 35-3 in the third quarter of a football game, just to be defeated 38-41 in overtime. This is what happened to the Houston Oilers in 1993, giving the Buffalo Bills the largest comeback in National Football League history. Buffalo Bills players and fans were elated, of course, but it must have felt like a gut-punch for the Houston Oilers.
What can we learn from being on the losing end of a comeback story?
Post-Game Analysis
“We stopped doing what got us the lead,” Oilers quarterback Warren Moon said in the interview right after this devastating defeat. It is always vital to analyze why you lost a game, but this is all the more important when you should’ve won it. Some very preventable mistakes occurred, and the quarterback admitted it.
“We stopped attacking,” Warren Moon admitted. “Instead of doing what we had been doing all game, we tried to protect the lead.” He is referring to a shift away from offense and toward a “prevent” type defense throughout the third quarter. The Bills took great advantage of this and ran a no-huddle offense, giving the Oilers no time to recover and put a stop to their momentum. This shift ended up costing them the game.
This is a great lesson from sports. Everyone can get a little too comfortable with a lead from time to time, and then pay dearly for it. Instead of maintaining pressure on the opposing team, we can give them a chance to turn the tide and steal our victory. This is a great reminder that we can never assume victory before it’s actually happened. We can’t be satisfied with where we are but maintain the initiative, seeking to grow our lead.
Press on!
The Apostle Paul explained the mindset that we need in order to obtain the ultimate, spiritual victory. He did this in the book of Philippians, written from prison at Rome (Philippians 1:13; 4:22). This was after he had been an apostle for years, having established many congregations, performed many miracles and withstood many tests and trials. He had led a life of fantastic spiritual achievement, overcoming Satan over and over again, and yet he wrote that he did not consider the battle won just yet. He forgot all the times he had already defeated Satan, and he pressed toward the final prize! (verses 13-14).
If we compare this to playing football, Paul would forget completely about the score. He would merely focus on pushing ahead, never allowing his opponent to steal the momentum. He played as if it was 0-0, no matter how far ahead he was. This tells us a lot about the mindset we need to have when facing our adversary.
Many believe that they are saved already, that nothing could change the outcome anymore. Christ was very clear on this point: “[H]e that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13). Clearly, Christ is not talking about a passive kind of endurance here. Elsewhere, He said that we must take God’s kingdom by force (Matthew 11:12). Just like in a sporting match, enduring means that you maintain your offensive mindset until the very end. Tiring into a defensive mindset allows Satan to take advantage of that.
Whom are You up Against?
“You can’t let a team like that hang around,” Moon said about the Buffalo Bills. “They’re too explosive. … They can score in a hurry.” Of course, this wouldn’t just apply to any football team; there are plenty of teams that wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of the Oilers like this. But this particular opponent was savvy enough to exploit a defensive posture. We face a much greater opponent than the Buffalo Bills.
Many scriptures speak of Satan’s readiness to pounce on us when we let down our guard. He will not relent. We live in a time when Satan has “great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (Revelation 12:12). He is now at his most dangerous, and if we give him any space to advance, he will use it. Our opponent is looking at the clock, and he’s playing aggressively. We can’t afford to lose the initiative now. Paul says to give no place to the devil, to push him into a corner (Ephesians 4:27).
This requires an offensive plan of action. We can’t look at our victories and think we’re doing pretty well. The moment we get into that mindset, we’ll start to shift into a “prevent” defense, just as the 1993 Oilers did. Now is the time to go above and beyond, seeking where we haven’t yet fully thrown our hearts behind God’s Work. Striving to be more fully submitted to God’s will: That is how we push the devil into a corner (James 4:7).
Like the Buffalo Bills, Satan is explosive, and he can score in a hurry. We can never get comfortable in our battle against him.
Stay the Course
“The offensive,” Churchill said, “is three or four times as hard as passively enduring from day to day. It therefore requires all possible help in early stages. Nothing is easier than to smother it in the cradle. Yet here, perhaps, lies safety.” The only way to guarantee that you don’t lose the momentum to your opponent is by a continual offensive push.
What kind of players are we? When we get ahead, do we start to think defensively? That a strong offense is too difficult? That we’re just waiting for the game to end? Maybe, when we’re in trials, we look forward to being done with them. Philadelphia Church of God Pastor General Gerald Flurry writes in How to Be an Overcomer that God puts us through trials now to prepare us for even greater battles ahead. We can never think we’re done fighting.
You can see how the final minutes of a football game are vital, even if you are way ahead. This game is preparing for the next one. If you’re already ahead, retaining the offensive mindset prepares you to endure a game where it’s neck in neck. Perhaps it prepares you for a game where you’re on the losing side, and you have to push a fast no-huddle offense for a big comeback in the last half. This is what the Buffalo Bills did. Once they got a hold of the momentum, they never let go of it.
A victory in football is one thing, but there are much greater battles that God is preparing us for. When we have fostered this offensive mindset in the sports we play, it prepares us to apply it elsewhere too. It prepares us to continue pushing hard in the workplace, even after we’ve had success. It also builds the mindset we need for a lifetime of learning through Bible study, and it sets us up to continue to overcome our human nature until Christ’s return.
We need a permanent offensive mindset. We must learn to look ahead, and press toward the mark. That way we will finally be able to say with Paul, at the end of our lives: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).