Losers Like UsSample

The Kingdom of Losers

Remember, we are all part of a great story which is really about God, not us. He is the number-one character (read: winner), and we are all secondary (read: losers).

I keep fighting for a better part.

I keep trying to upstage God.

But losers are broken people who have come to submit to God’s story, to acknowledge God’s place at center stage and their own place at—well, wherever God wants. Losers understand their rightful place—and God’s.

This week we’ve studied some biblical losers—Jesus’ twelve disciples—and found them to be just like us: people familiar with loss, failure, and brokenness, either from life’s circumstances or from the consequences of sin. But why does God choose people like this? Why does he seem to prefer losers (the disciples and us) for kingdom work?

I think it’s because losers, through being humbled, tend to develop four traits: teachableness, egolessness, brokenness, and empathy. These qualities are prized by God, and by any true Christ-follower as well.

However, these traits do not always develop. Some losers may resist the process and stay the same, or become even less teachable, egoless, broken, and empathetic. It is our response to our losses, faults, and sins which makes the difference.

Jesus is our example. He was sinless and never experienced any loss due to his own sin—yet his losses were greater than those of anyone else, ever. By his own choice, he gave up his place with God in heaven to submit to a human body on earth; he gave up any right to be comfortable, appreciated, or understood; he gave up his own will and yielded to God’s; and he gave up his life on the cross.

None of us can change the past. We can make the best of life’s curve balls, but we can’t reverse them. We can repent of past sins, but we can’t undo them. All we can do is humble ourselves before God and admit that we are wholly dependent on his grace, no matter what happens. We can imitate Jesus and cooperate with him in embracing greater teachableness, egolessness, brokenness, and empathy. And in the kingdom of losers like us, as we see from his gracious work with his disciples, this humble cooperation is all that he requires.

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