How to be a good loser

Election day. Finally. After all ballots are counted we are going to have a little over 3 years time to go on with our lives and the things that are important. Somebody will win. Somebody will lose. Like it is in sports, so it is in democratic elections. And, just like in sports, there should be a culture of acceptance (accepting the result), mutual respect, and a sense of cooperation for the better of the bigger picture (after all, neither the NFL nor the UEFA Champions League would exist if there were only winners). At times, a winner might become proud and forget his own humble beginnings and/or where he would have been if it hadn’t been for that last-minute goal, or those few absentee ballots. Make no mistake: God still resists the proud! Unfortunately, losers are just as much, or even more so, prone to pride and all its devastating consequences. Blaming others for a lost game or a lost election is among the favorite tactics of bad losers. “We are the better team, but the referee was unfair. We should have won”. In today’s political culture it’s an all too easy cop-out to blame the referees of any democratic society – the electorate. Labeling the voters of the winning party (or the losing party, for that matter) “stupid”, “irresponsible” or as “having drunk the cool-aid” will not only fail to win their votes next time around, but it also testifies of a spirit of pride. Instead of accepting the results and trying to do the best for the country in the opposition’s role, many times the loser reduces his activity to criticizing, criticizing, criticizing – just to be surprised 4 years later that people realized that he doesn’t have any ideas how to do things any better, either. The right attitude towards winners and losers would not even be half as crucial if it wasn’t for the spiritual consequences it entails: As it is eventually God who puts people into position of leadership (Proverbs 21:1 says “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD…” – how much more the heart of a voter!), we’ll find ourselves opposing God if we are rejecting and rebelling against those He has put into authority (Romans 13:1, of course). Our rebellion might initially only be in our hearts, but it will eventually show itself. Most likely first in disrespectful speech. And sooner than later we find ourselves opposed by all kinds of problems, and we wonder what is happening to us. Could it be that God is opposing us, as he promised he would? Of course we are not condemned to opposing God if we happen to be in the opposition in democratic terms: it all depends on attitude! Remember: God does not oppose (= “resist”) the ruler of a certain nation, but the proud. And whether you are proud or not does not (and should not!) depend on what side of the aisle you are sitting!