We win! (Or Don’t be Troy)

Last updated on: December 6, 2016 at 7:13 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

We win! (Or Don’t be Troy) 2016-12-05T19:49:44-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

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Just when you think you have won, that is when many people lose. This lesson is as old as Homer, though Virgil told it best. The wealthy, more than a little soft, Trojans held off the Greeks for a decade and then the Greeks went home. After ten years of siege, the party was on.

And the Trojans were about to win. They simply had to be smart and the war would be over and the Greeks vanquished. Sadly, unexpected victory drove sense out of their head and they allowed the enemy into the camp.

They took a gift from the Greeks and brought the Trojan Horse into Troy. This was the actual Trojan Horse, not a metaphor, and it contained real, live super warriors who attacked Troy from inside while the rest of the Greeks rushed the walls from the outside. The drunken Trojans were not ready and so the city fell.

If Greek story telling is not your thing, remember that every time the children of Israel in the Bible starting winning, they got cocky and would not listen to the prophet’s warning. Victory, especially unexpected victory, can be worse than defeat. As Han Solo warned young Sky Walker: “Don’t get cocky, kid.”

The reasons are simple enough, if hard to avoid. First, if the fight has been long, it is easy to drop your guard. You are so happy that you will do things you might not have done during the fight . . .like take large Greek objects into your city by tearing down part of the wall that has kept you safe for a decade. It is hard to keep focus and finish off the victory.Be cautious, burn the horse, and the Greeks lose their best heroes and probably go home.

Second, those who had been predicting defeat are undone. “We win!” trumps “We are losing!” when the victory seems won. Nobody ever believed Cassandra any way, but after the Greeks ran away, her continued predictions of doom seemed silly.

Finally, to the victors belong the spoils, but too much party can spoil the victor. The Trojans had one night of revelry that ended in the sack of the city. It is hard to fight loaded down with too much wine, but even harder to be cautious. The evidence the horse was hollow was there, but nobody noticed, because it would have told them something they did not want to hear: the battle is not over. It was easier to celebrate and take destruction into the city with the victory parade.

How can we avoid this syndrome in our own lives, nations, and ministries?

First, never assume the battle is over. There is no “final victory” this side of Paradise. When things go well, don’t assume evil is gone forever, but keep your guard up.

Second, don’t pull a hamstring celebrating the game winning score. There is another game next week and we need you! Celebrate, but not like a fool. Folly is not justified by victory and can sometimes pull defeat from the jaws of victory.

Third, don’t take gifts from the enemy. “Beware Greeks giving gifts.” The harmless trophy, set of ideas, or people we take into our community may undermine our victory.

Fourth, don’t assume you have won when you look like you have won. Clever foes, and the foe of the Christian is quite clever, known to feign defeat to get us to drop our guard. Be cautious.

Finally, listen to the prudent. Sometimes prudence doesn’t pay and the long shot works. I have made a few myself, but it is a bad general strategy. We need the prudent voices to tell us what is probably true, even if sometimes they are wrong.

Don’t end up being governed by Greeks when you thought you were a Trojan winner. Stay strong, carry on, and see.

And by the way, the Greeks did not finish off all the Trojans. They let one escape (poor Aeneas) and for centuries the harm seemed minor. The exiled Trojan would found a new Troy that eventually would become Rome. When the children of Aeneas came back to Greece, they did not need to hide in a horse.

The Greeks should have finished off the Trojans!

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