So much talk among Christians revolves around “getting” and “gaining.” God gave me this. God gave me that.
So much of our Christian life is focused on the things we’ve received: freedom, hope, peace, a future. Of course these are all things worth being excited about. But the Christian life is also about giving up things. This is the part people are less quick to talk about.
Yet this is the part I think Jesus talked more about. Losing our life…not getting stuff from Him. Being a Christian is not simply a list of tings God has done for us. It is more so about being losers. If you call yourself a follower of Christ than you should also be prepared to call yourself a loser…
You see, the Cross means losing. The Cross is not only, or simply, about gaining a new life in Christ, but rather losing your life to find it.
We all have things we have had to lose in order to follow Christ…
We lose our past–complete with sin–but sometimes that includes friends, family members, memories…
We lose our security, as Christ draws us into unfamiliar territory…
The talkative, assertive person must lose and be quiet and listen.
The quiet, shy person must lose and speak up even when it is difficult.
The wife must lose what the world calls her “right” when she submits to her husband.
The husband loses himself–his own desires–when he yields to the Lord and leads his family.
The motivated, driven person loses when God says “wait…be still.”
The pensive, cautious person loses when God says, “Go now. Act.”
We are all losers…Christ was the biggest loser of all, sacrificing His life for each and every one of us, that we might be losers too.
Yes, the Cross means victory for us and the defeat of our enemy, but it also means loss, no matter how small of seemingly insignificant. God wants us to be losers…and I’ll be the first to raise my hand. I’m a loser. Are you?
What have you had to “lose” in order to gain Christ? What has God had you give up, turn away from, or correct in order to make you more of a loser?
Interesting concept. It parallels something I read a week or so ago, referencing the beginning of the monastic period in church history.
Basically around 300 AD, when Christianity was just becoming legal and accepted (and corrupted by all sorts of non-Christian ideas as well) some believers felt the urge to move away from society, out into the desert, and simply focus on their relationship with God. (The Wikipedia article on Desert Fathers gives a good summary.)
The New Testament provides examples of this as well. John the Baptist lived such a life. Jesus had his period of 40 days in the wilderness. Paul spent a number of years in the Arabian desert. It seemed to be an important foundational period in their ministries.
The trick, I suppose, is to find a way to live a life mindful of monastic principles, even if you continue to live within society and a family. Letting go of everything that isn’t really necessary or prudent, while still interacting with the people around you, and still being a productive member of society. Not an easy task.
I am, at this point in my life, in a sort of wilderness experience as well. Thanks for giving me a new way to ponder that concept today.
So timely for me. I was “counting the cost” today in a time of reflection. I sat in the car and watched my lovely wife limp with a cane into a bible study for missionary ladies here in Paraguay. Just a few short years ago she was a triathlete, she limps now because she was hit by a car while riding a motorcycle to a tribal language class that would benefit our ministry here. Her femur was shattered. This happened 2 months after an Aortic valve replacement that I needed because a systemic fever that we think I suffered here damaged it.
I miss my family, especially the close relationship I had with my dad. We work together everyday for several years before we went into the field. Friends who “get it” are hard, if not impossible, to come by in a foreign culture. We are independent missionaries not working under a mission agency. During tough economic times the donations have been at code level scary but sustainable for a while.
However, I am reminded each time that I think the costs are to high that I have not been required to knowingly pick my own, agonizing death, like Christ. He knew the exact costs in advance and still did it. An empty life without Him would be tragic, especially compared to the adventure filled life I enjoy now.
Good post.
I think the toughest calling my husband and I had was to abandon normalcy and take in our three very young nieces on a “temporary” basis. (It was very obvious about eight weeks into the “temporary” basis that we knew it was likely to become permanent. It now is.) They were so little…the oldest not yet three, the twins barely 18 months old. We had no children of our own.
Our lives have come nowhere close to the generally quiet, easy lives we led before. Even with the oldest now in first grade and the twins in preschool, it’s still not what it was before. It never will be.
I’m glad.
And on the days when I’d happily sell my three little demons to the nearest gypsy troupe, I’m still glad we took on this call to abandon our quiet lives. But I’m usually not glad until they’re in bed. ;)
My name is Nelly, and I am a Christian and A Loser!!!
:
GlOrY to God!!
I wouldn’t normally force my opinion on people but since you’re doing that figured I might as well. Christianity is a stupid fairy tale based on the unknown aspects of the world and when people couldn’t explain them they came up with stupid shit like an Invisible man in the sky, it was like that in ancient Greece people believed they were people in the Olympus mountain until they could climb it. So in that train of thought if you believe in a fairy tale and pray to a non-existing man 2 times a day than you are the biggest loser possible and have no right to call anybody that!
Augustin,
Hmm…well, I did not and have not “forced my opinion” on anyone. People are free to read this blog or not read this blog. I’m sorry that you hold such anger and to be frank, hate, for Christians and Christianity.
I hope your tirade made you feel better.
That’s messed up. Just because of you religion doesn’t make you a loser.
Loser! Been resisting the truth of this all of my life (64+ years) and all of a sudden . . . Lose the fear and walk right in. Knowing that the world will reject you but press on anyway. And situations, relationships, etc will be affected and possibly lost. Comfort zone security – gone for sure. Early days and praying for the courage to simply let go.