How to win in life

It is every person’s desire in life to win. Even if you’re not a competitive person, it still feels good to win. This is especially true in life. To win in life and be successful is something many people see as being worth striving for.

This striving to win and be successful will take you in two different paths though.

The first path is, if you strive and succeed, you will become proud. You may say that this isn’t you or that it wouldn’t be you, but deep inside the heart there will be pride, even when you are able to summon a bit of humility to not appear proud.

The second path is, if you strive but don’t succeed, you will be devastated. When success doesn’t come despite giving it all you got, despair will come, even when you are able to muster a bit of courage to continue to try. Eventually it will wear you down because striving and not succeeding is not sustainable. Sure, you can try to mask feeling devastated with other things, healthy or unhealthy, but it will be just that, a mask.

There is so much that hangs on this striving that seems so natural to all of us.

The good news is that the Bible offers another way. Another path.

There is a guy named Paul in the Bible.

If anyone was striving it was this guy. He strived to become the best at what he did. He set out to become a religious man and he became the best of the best early on in life. He was able to gain success at an early age. You would think because he was a religious man that he wouldn’t have become proud, but he did. The more he did to become more and more religious, the more proud he became. Until one day when everything changed.

One day he set out to continue to do more of what he thought was God’s work and Jesus appeared to him. Paul wasn’t the same after that. His name was actually Saul, but after Jesus appeared to him he became known as Paul. Curiously, the name Paul means «small», «little», and «humble». Paul became a completely changed man.

Paul said that everything he had strived for, all of his wins in life, were now considered a loss to him. He had a lot of wins in life, but he came to consider those wins in life as losses. This is what he said, «But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.» (Philippians 3:7).

Paul was no longer placing so much meaning and personal worth on whether he succeeded or not, on whether he won in life or not. He came to find a bigger purpose for his life. It was no longer a matter of winning or losing in life. He no longer engaged in striving to succeed in life.

Paul began to live like Jesus lived here on earth. As Jesus was filled by the Holy Spirit, Paul also lived not by his strength and his striving, but by the help of the Holy Spirit. In Romans chapter 8 he makes the argument of not living by the flesh, which is in one’s strength and striving, because it eventually leads to death (pride or despair). Instead, he argues to live by the (Holy) Spirit of God, which is true life and peace.

If we live by the (Holy) Spirit of God, when we have success in life we will not be proud because we will know it was not through our own strength that it was achieved. In fact, we will know we are fulfilling a bigger purpose that God has for us, for the entire world. In the same way, if we fail, we will not fall in despair because we will know that we are still loved and embraced by God, and that our personal worth and purpose in this life does not depend on our striving.

To win in life is to live by the Spirit.

Como elegir un cónyuge sabiamente

El viejo puritano escribe:

Ten cuidado de que ni la lujuria ni la imprudencia te empujen a entrar en un estado matrimonial.
Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory (Parte II)

El punto inicial de Baxter es no apresurarse al matrimónio. Él cree que el matrimonio es muy importante y no debe tomarse a la ligera.

Baxter continua:

Es a Dios a quien debes servir en tu estado matrimonial, y por lo tanto es apropiado que tomes su consejo antes de lanzarte al matrimonio.

En esencia dice: no te apresures al matrimonio, primero busca la guía de Dios. El argumento de buscar la guía de Dios al elegir cónyuge se escucha impactante. Impactante para nuestras mentes en 2026, ya que en el tiempo de Baxter parece ser que era una practica común:

Si el consentimiento de los padres es necesario, mucho más lo es el consentimiento de Dios.

Baxter vivió en una época en la que era practica común que los hijos cristianos recibieran la aprobación (consentimiento) de sus padres cuando deseaban casarse. Hay mucha sabiduría en esto. Vivimos en una época en la que nuestra cultura nos quiere hacer tomar decisiones importantes por nuestra cuenta. Ciertamente no con la ayuda y apoyo de nuestros padres. Pero, en general, los padres quieren lo mejor para sus hijos. En general, vale la pena valorar y buscar la aprobación de los padres para el matrimonio.

Muchas personas objetaran diciendo que no todos crecieron con padres, no todos tienen una relación con ellos si los tienen, o no todos tienen padres cristianos. Esto es comprensible. Sin embargo, para las personas en estas circunstancias, deberían buscar una pareja mayor piadosa, o a los lideres de la iglesia para apoyo y orientación.

Baxter esta diciendo que los cristianos que desean casarse deben mirar a Dios al elegir cónyuge. Este apoyo y orientación de parte de Dios puede y debe venir de los padres cristianos o una figura paternal en la iglesia.

Continua Baxter:

Y es de Dios de quien aún debes depender, para la bendición y los consuelos de tu relación: y por lo tanto hay muy gran razón para que tomes su consejo y consentimiento, como las cosas principales requeridas para el matrimonio.

No te apresures al matrimonio y busca consejo piadoso de padres cristianos o figuras paternales en la iglesia porque esto es de Dios.

Isaac’s Wells and the Life of the Spirit (Genesis 26)

The Bible doesn’t tell us much about Isaac’s life.

In contrast, it tells us a lot about his father, Abraham, and one of Isaac’s sons, Jacob.

In fact, in the chapters of Genesis covering these three patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), the author finishes Abraham’s story and moves straight into Jacob’s. Only after beginning Jacob’s narrative does the author return to provide a little more details about Isaac’s life. Which brings us to Genesis chapter 26.

Compared to other Bible characters, and especially compared to his father Abraham, or Isaac’s son Jacob, Isaac’s life appears rather unremarkable. The one thing that does stand out was his failure when, out of fear the men would kill him due to his wife’s attractive appearance, he lied and said she was his sister.

The other aspect of his life was the miraculous way in which God prospered him.

First, God opened Rebekah’s womb, Isaac’s wife, and they were able to have twin boys.

Second, God commanded him not to flee from a famine that came to the land where he lived and promised to bless him.

God blesses Isaac

Under this divine promise, Isaac sowed in that land, and in the same year he reaped a harvest of a hundredfold. We know that sowing doesn’t guarantee a harvest—many factors can destroy it entirely. In those days, yielding a harvest of five to tenfold was considered a successful harvest; that is, getting five to ten grains for every one sown.

Yet Isaac reaped a hundredfold from each seed he sowed. This miraculous harvest happened during a significant famine. God had promised to bless him in that land, and He fulfilled His word. God prospered Isaac in an extraordinary way.

The wells

Another way God blessed Isaac was through wells of water. This provision was vital, especially during a famine.

What’s interesting is that these weren’t new wells—Isaac reopened the ones his father Abraham had dug years earlier. In that era, owning wells was comparable to owning oil fields today; they represented immense wealth.

Reopening the wells wasn’t easy. Besides the hard labor involved, Isaac faced opposition from the people of the land, the Philistines. Their envy was so intense that, instead of benefiting from the wells, they preferred to stop them up and fill them with earth. Every time Isaac reopened them, the Philistines quarreled over the water rights.

Isaac did not contend for the wells; he simply left them to the Philistines and kept digging until they no longer opposed him. It is interesting to note that although God was blessing him with the wells, He did not keep him from having to face opposition.

Some Bible teachers praise Isaac’s humble and peaceable character for not fighting the Philistines over the wells. Despite the opposition, he didn’t give up and continued reopening his father’s wells.

The spiritual blessing

As I read Genesis 26, I noticed something profound in the text: Isaac’s wells represent the life of the Spirit.

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:25, ESV

“But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:14, ESV

Isaac represents the Christian believer who seeks to live by the Spirit. The wells represent the life of the Spirit.

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”
Romans 8:14, ESV

This spiritual blessing far surpasses any material prosperity.

“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
Romans 8:2, ESV

“For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”
Romans 8:6, ESV

Isaac was diligent in reopening his father’s wells, even amid opposition. In the same way, today’s Christian must seek these “spiritual wells,” these spiritual riches. And this blessing is available to us.

One practical way to receive this blessing is through reading the Bible.

“That he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.”
Ephesians 5:26, ESV

May the Lord help us to dig and keep open these spiritual wells in our lives, so that living water may spring up within us, leading to eternal life.

Speaking of genealogies

The biblical authors had a purpose in mind when using a genealogy. The first genealogy in the Bible is found in Genesis 5. The purpose of this is to show us how we got from Adam, to Seth, all the way down to Noah.

Then there are two different genealogies listed, beginning in chapter 9:18. The first genealogy tells us about Noah’s immediate descendants.

The second genealogy continue to list Noah’s descendants and in chapter 11:10, it lists the descendants of one of Noah’s sons, Shem. Why does the genealogy begin to focus in on Shem? Because from Shem comes a guy named Terah and he was Abram’s father, whom God later changed his name to Abraham. Yes, that Abraham.

The biblical narrative weave the different genealogies to tell us of the Son of Man who was to come many years later. The gospel authors, Matthew and Luke, include a genealogy to show us how Jesus was the son of Abraham and the son of Adam.

Galatians 4:4–5

[4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (ESV)

Hagamos al hombre

Mientras Dios estaba creando el mundo y todo lo que hay en el, él hizo al hombre en el sexto y último día de la creación. Quiero centrarme en lo que el texto nos dice acerca de Dios en la creación del hombre.

Miremos el texto:

Génesis 1:26
[26] Entonces dijo Dios: «Hagamos al hombre a nuestra imagen, conforme a nuestra semejanza. Y señoree en los peces del mar, en las aves de los cielos, en los animales domésticos, en toda la tierra, y en todo reptil que se arrastra sobre la tierra.» (RVR)

Notamos que hay un diálogo interno. En todos los otros días de la creación, y en todas las demás cosas creadas que Dios hizo, él simplemente las habló a la existencia. Pero algo cambia cuando Dios crea al hombre. Dios habla consigo mismo.

Ahora sabemos que este es el Dios Trino (Padre, Hijo, Espíritu Santo) discutiendo la creación del hombre. Detengámonos allí por un momento.

Ninguna persona de la Trinidad actúa por su cuenta para crear al hombre. En su lugar, hay un llamado a unirse en la creación del hombre: «Hagamos». Aquí hay una comunidad perfecta. Perfecta unidad en la Trinidad (Dios el Padre, Dios el Hijo, Dios el Espíritu Santo). Ninguna persona de la Trinidad se opuso a la propuesta. El Dios Trino estaba de acuerdo con el plan de crear al hombre, y es a partir de esta perfecta comunión, acuerdo y unidad, que el hombre fue creado.

La Biblia nos enseña que Dios es amor (1 Juan 4:8), y es este Dios de amor, el Dios Trino, quien se unió para crear al hombre. El hombre fue hecho por amor. No de carencia, sino de abundancia. El hombre fue creado de manera reflexiva, intencionada. Por esto, el hombre puede estar seguro de su lugar en el mundo. Por esto, el hombre también puede caminar con seguridad sabiendo que fue deseado cuando fue creado.

Por esto, el hombre también puede unirse con otros para lograr grandes cosas. El hombre puede llamar a sus semejantes y decir: «Hagamos», y caminar en unidad.