Everyday Life

 I drove the shuttle on Tuesday night. It was an extra shift, but they needed more drivers as we welcomed home IU fans returning from Monday night’s College Football Championship Game. On my very first run, I picked up a woman I’d guess was in her 70s and a lifelong IU fan. The entire shuttle was filled with IU fans, all swapping stories from an unforgettable weekend.

 

This woman shared how thrilling it was to witness a championship that capped off an undefeated season. Then she casually added that she had also been in attendance back in 1976, when Bobby Knight led an undefeated Indiana basketball team to an NCAA championship. Two undefeated championship seasons—decades apart—and she had seen them both. Hands down, she won “top story of the night.”

 

Undefeated. It’s rare in sports for teams to never lose. The 1972 Miami Dolphins pulled it off. It has never happened in Major League Baseball (162 games is a long season), nor in the NBA or NHL. In college football, it has happened 64 times in the past 90 years, with Notre Dame leading the way at six. But with the expanded playoff schedule, IU became the first team to go 16–0 since Yale did it in 1894.

 

I’ve been part of a couple of undefeated baseball teams—and once, miraculously, an undefeated co-ed softball team with a young marrieds small group. That story is for another day.

 

Undefeated seasons are rare, and they’re worth celebrating. Most of us, however, are far more familiar with “the agony of defeat” (and if you know that reference, you’re showing your age). Life reminds us often that we don’t always win. Jesus was honest about that reality. He told His followers, then and now, “In this world you will have trouble.” And he told Peter that he would fail and deny him three times. John echoes that truth in his first letter, reminding us that none of us are undefeated when it comes to sin:

We are not called to be perfect. Sinless perfection is unattainable for humans born with a sin nature. God knows that—and we need to recognize it too. That’s why Jesus is our only hope. He never intended our failures, our struggles, or even our sin to define us or defeat us. That’s why He could say, “You will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

 

Jesus went undefeated. And through Him, we are invited to live in His victory over sin and death.

The apostle Paul puts it this way in Romans 8:

 

We may not be undefeated—but we are not defeated. In Christ, we are more than conquerors. Our story isn’t defined by a flawless record, but by a faithful Savior. When we fall, we can be forgiven. When we struggle, we can be strengthened. When we face trouble, we can stand in victory—not because of what we’ve done, but because of what Christ has already accomplished.

 

So, live boldly. Confess quickly. Trust deeply. And walk confidently in the truth that nothing—no failure, no hardship, no power in all creation—can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

 

Undefeated? No.

Defeated? Absolutely not.