Why are winners so miserable?

November 8, 2010  David Murray   5 comments

Who are the happiest people in the world?

Winners?

Sounds about right, doesn’t it.

That’s why we invest so much in team sports; winning the game makes us happy.

That’s why children fight and bicker; beating little sis makes us happy.

That’s why husbands and wives shout at each other; winning the argument makes us happy

That’s why we cut up other drivers; getting in front makes us happy.

That’s why we trample over others on route to the top; winning promotion makes us happy

Winners are happy!

Aren’t they?

They aren’t!

They’re miserable (after the initial victory rush).

And the more they win, the more miserable they become.

Anyone disagree?

So who are the happiest people in the world?

Servants.

Servants enjoy seeing others win.

Servants enjoy being second; they are even happier when last.

They not only preach servant-hood. They do it.

Jesus served with a towel and water, called others to copy his example, and said:

If you know these things, happy are you if you do them (John 13:14-17).

  • Bill

    2 natures beat within my breast, the one is foul the other is blest, the one I love the other I hate, the I feed will dominateDoesn’t Paul talk about beating himself into submission? Going from always wanting to be a winner to wanting to be a servant takes the grace of God and the power of Christ.

  • Daniel Gomes Silveira

    So true… The world simply doesn’t understand what can truly makes us happy.

  • Mark Tuso

    I thought of this quote as I was reading your post. “The misery of such a condition is often realized by him who is retired from business, or who is retired from law, or who is even retired from the occupations of the chase, and of the gaming table. Such is the demand of our nature for an object in pursuit, that no accumulation of previous success can extinguish it – and thus it is, that the most prosperous merchant, and the most victorious general, and the most fortunate gamester, when the labour of their respective vocations has come to a close, are often found to languish in the midst of all their acquisitions, as if out of their kindred and rejoicing element. It is quite in vain with such a constitutional appetite for employment in man, to attempt cutting away from him the spring or the principle of one employment, without providing him with another.” Thomas Chalmers – “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection”

  • David Murray

    Great quote Mark. I used to live in the same city that Chalmers ministered in.

  • David Murray

    Bill, I agree, to get from winner to servant (and stay there) is beyond human power.