Things look pretty good when you’re up 34-7. A point differential that wide means you’ve been thoroughly dominating your opponent. When you find yourself in that satisfying place, there are a couple of strategies that can follow.
One strategy is to pump the brakes. This is not a bad strategy. Sometimes the vast success means you’ve been at it pretty hard and need to let up a little; save some juice for what’s to come.
For example, George Washington’s victory at Trenton gave new life to the Continental Army. Afterward they were able to rest, and from that point on he never really needed to win, he just needed to not lose. There is a difference. Throughout history many wars have been won by merely not losing. Washington needed to preserve his men: Keep them alive, in the field, and run out the clock, so to speak.
I’ve been a Kansas City Chief’s fan my entire life, and for the past five years the Chief’s coach has been Andy Reid. Everyone has certain tendencies. As a football coach, Andy Reid’s tendency is to have his teams come out of the gate roaring. He’s creative, daring, and makes his opponents’ heads spin. When his teams are good, they end up with sizable leads. This is when Andy Reid’s other tendency kicks in. When his teams are ahead, he gets conservative, and all of the crazy schemes he used to get that lead fall away. Reid’s play calling tightens up as he sits on the score and tries to chew up the clock, and in his oft repeated words,”Get out of there with a W.”
He pumps the brakes.
Again, it’s not a bad strategy. If we can take the success we’ve achieved thus far, and ride it till our opponents fall away, we win. This is how Washington beat Cornwallis. It’s how Lee almost beat Grant.
Andy Reid has had tremendous success as an NFL coach. But the problem with pumping the brakes in football, in war, or in any other endeavor is that the strategy’s success is conditional upon your opponent’s failure to adapt.
There is another strategy. I’ve heard it said many ways:
Bring the heat.
Strike hard, strike first. No mercy, sir!
Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Or my personal favorite, Lay on the gas.
When I used to play sports, I was always a defense-minded guy. I liked playing cornerback in football and goaltender in soccer. I was a defenseman in hockey. On the defense I always had the mindset that if we do our job perfectly, we can’t lose. If the defense could hold them to zero, all we needed was a single point to win, and we could generate that ourselves. But this will only take you so far.
In life there are certain areas where this simply isn’t the case. There are struggles we go through where just holding on is not going to carry the day. Our opponent will adapt to our tactics, and hit in a completely different way when we take our guard down.
It may not even matter that we’re stronger than him, or better equipped, or well-trained and better conditioned. If we let up, if we let our crafty and creative and (maybe) smarter enemy get even a minuscule advantage, he will exploit it. Very soon we are the ones spinning around dizzy as we watch our lead disintegrate before we can even catch our breath.
If you are a Chiefs fan, you’ve endured the agony of a loss at the hands of a talented opponent who gained by Andy Reid’s conservative second-half strategy. In fact, you’ve endured several, and usually in the playoffs — because at the highest levels of competition, there is no margin for error. Robert E. Lee was perhaps the greatest field general in American history, but Ulysses S. Grant was the only Union general who knew how to beat him.
If you’re in ministry, you’ve probably encountered incalculable levels of heartache generated by an enemy who preys on weakness, and who is a master at exploiting any advantage, no matter how small. What is the strategy to defeat that kind of foe?
Lay on the gas.
Grant laid on the gas. So should Andy Reid. So should we.
Defense wins championships, as the saying goes in football. And to a point, that’s true. In ministry though, I’m all about offense. Hit the devil first, hit him hard, and don’t let up till he runs away like the pathetic creature he is. Hit him again tomorrow, and the day after that. Hammer him so hard and so often that messing with you exhausts him. Take his game and shove it in his face. Break his spirit and make him fear the power of the Lord in you. Run up the score and lay on the gas because — unlike football – in ministry, lives are on the line.
The victory experienced last year, last week, or yesterday doesn’t matter to the enemy of your heart. It may be enough to carry you for a while, but hanging on until you can eek out a win is not what you were created for. You were made to run up the score. You were designed to lay a fifty-burger upon the neck of your enemy. You were made to boldly march onto the field of your opponent, lay on the gas, silence his cohorts and empty his stands, then move onto his next stronghold.
Andy Reid has a great team this year, maybe his best offense ever. I hope he’s learned the lessons of the past and doesn’t fall back on the false security of his temporary success, because just when you think you’ve got it in the bag, look out — the enemy is lurking.
