If you’ve known me for very long you will know that I’m a big (in appreciation and fascination, not in body weight) fan of board games. There’s a lot I could say about why they’re so great, but I’ll save it for another time. I did want to point out one thing in particular that I’ve noticed. In many games the rules include a tiebreaker, in other words some other factor by which to determine the winner of a game when two or more people are tied based on the common victory requirements. Some games even have a few tiebreakers in case the first one still doesn’t determine a winner. Eventually though, one reaches a limit to the things that can be used to break ties and, however unlikely in some games, there comes a point were players may, as one rule book puts it, “rejoice in their shared victory.” Some games don’t even have tiebreakers and commonly end in a situation where, “players can all delight in their wealth-there are several winners!”

Now I don’t know about you, but this is usually looked down upon as a flaw in a game. Few people enjoy the “there are no losers” scenario, unless of course it is a cooperative game in which everyone either wins or looses against the game system itself. In fact, games without a definite winner often seem pointless and childish. The truth of the matter is, we don’t like sharing the victory, we want to be the king of the hill, standing far above those we’ve defeated, shining in the brilliant glow of our triumphal efforts, all other noise drowned out by the cacophony of our sheer awesomeness, you get the idea.

Thankfully, God is not that way. Sure, Christ has been risen up and exalted far above all else for His mighty works. However, even though He rightfully deserves all the glory, He chooses to share it with us, though we have done practically nothing worthy of earning it. Even though we can hardly stand even the thought of letting someone else get the credit for our work, He wants us to share His victory with us. It’s like being in a big parade held in His honor and He asks us to come stand right next to Him on the main float. It’s pretty amazing when you think about it and so different from what we’re used to. That’s God for ya, always mixing it up on us.

This is one of my all-time favorite verses:

2 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV)

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.