Even Messi Can Mess up

Even Messi Can Mess up

Football is in the air and after 4 years of waiting, we finally get to see this much-anticipated spectacle called the FIFA World Cup. As we tune in each day, especially in these group stages our minds are already made up on who is going to win. The Goliaths stand tall, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Argentina, and the like, while the Davids seem less than significant. In our analytical minds, it seems like the Davids can never win against the Goliaths, especially when they boast of Titans like Messi. But Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina gives us all hope that impossibilities can happen.

Argentina has won the world cup twice in 1976 and 1986 respectively, but they have boasted of greats like Diego Maradona and now Lionel Messi who are considered ‘the gods of football’ by all young, aspiring footballers. Particularly this year, Argentina is one of the top favorites to win the world cup this year as Argentinians hope that Messi will be their Messiah and bring the coveted cup home. The expectation was that Argentina would just walk over Saudi Arabia as many considered this team as no match for the World No 3 team. But the result couldn’t be any more different.

The faces of the Argentinian fans were filled with anguish while the Saudi fans were filled with uncontrollable joy as the second goal was scored by Salem-Al-Dawsari. Asian teams almost never do anything notable at the world cup, but for a team like Saudi Arabia to score against Argentina, it was a moment for the history books. In fact, Saudi  Arabia is celebrating it as a national holiday by waiving the fees in theme parks.

*File Photo courtesy Shutterstock

As the game progressed and the final whistle was blown at the end of 90 minutes, Messi’s face said it all, it was a blend of sadness, disappointment (in himself as the captain), and anger, all rolled in one. In short, for sporting legends like Messi, the idea of failure is a foreign concept. Sportsmen often, like all of us, struggle with tying their abilities to their identity. Failures often make us struggle with our self-esteem and challenge our overall confidence. In recent times, I have noticed that many friends have struggled with failures in their studies, employment, marriage, etc… and each time they fail their identity seems to suffer. But failures are the stepping stones to truly discovering ourselves.

When dealing with failure, one of the best things to do is to find your true worth in the pages of God’s word. In my own life, whenever I have dealt with failure, I have found great comfort in God’s assurances for me, it also gives me great comfort to know that He loves and values me despite my failures. This helps me stop measuring myself against the goals and values of this world, instead, it keeps my compass pointed toward Him.

A secondary by-product of failure is often fear (you don’t want to fail again. Do you?). Whenever we try something, we are always sure to get one of two results – success or a lesson in failure. While we all love the feeling of success, we are often very reluctant to embrace failure. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.” So, for us to accomplish anything in life we need to try it and that means that we need to drive out the fear of failure in us. The Bible says this about fear “Such love (God’s love) has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear…” Hence the more we understand the love of God, the more our fears are expelled. We must consciously refuse the world’s standards and embrace the love and grace of God.

Like Argentina, who are granted a second chance at the World cup in their upcoming match against Mexico (where we all hope they win!) God too grants us second chances to make amends when we mess up. In our moments of failure, it is good to go to the creator of us all who loves us regardless of our failure or success.