loser: part 3

I have a picture of a Giant Sequoia tree on my computer desktop. One of the highlights of my choir trip to California in college was standing beside these trees that towered hundreds of feet into the air. Did you know this tree had to lose something? As a seed in a cone, it had to lose everything. It went from sitting high up in a majestic tree to falling and being covered by dirt. It had to stay there, in the dirt and refuse of the forest for some time before an amazing change began to take place. It went from being a seed in a prickly cone to a delicate little tree. With each year, it continued to grow, until it reached over 300 feet!



The Giant Sequoia is a beautiful picture of the Christian life. Where are you right now? Are you the seed still sitting in the cone high up in a tree, afraid to lose whatever you hold dear? Are you down in the dirt, feeling as though you’ve lost your very life? Are you beginning to see signs of new growth? Wherever you may be, allow yourself to be a loser. Elisabeth Elliot is a woman who lost much in her life. Both she and her husband, Jim, were willing to lose it all for Jesus. Jim lost his life in the jungles of Ecuador as a missionary. Here is what Elisabeth has to say about loss:

“There is no ongoing spiritual life without this process of letting go. At the precise point where we refuse, growth stops. If we hold tightly to anything given to us, unwilling to let it go when the time comes to let it go or unwilling to allow it to be used as the Giver means it to be used, we stunt the growth of the soul…The truth is that it is ours to thank Him for and ours to lose, ours to let go of – if we want to find our true selves, if we want real Life, if our hearts are set on glory.”

loser: part 2

“Then he said to them all: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” - Luke 9:23-24

You want me to be willing to lose my very life, Lord? But what does that mean? It means a willingness to hold to everything loosely, except for Jesus. Whether your loss is small or big, you’re still ok because you have Jesus.

Losing isn’t easy. It wouldn’t be considered a “loss” if it didn’t hurt. However, Christ calls us to daily lose the things of this world, to lose our desires and plans, to lose our very lives and follow him. There is one thing we should not lose – our hearts. “Therefore we do not lose heart…for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

He promises that loss will hurt and that we will suffer. But where we choose to fix our eyes makes all the difference. When our eyes are fixed on the ultimate goal: Christ’s glory, our sufferings seem light and momentary compared to what we will gain. The question is, “Is Jesus worth it?” Most definitely!

And here’s the best part: after we lose everything, after we have suffered, Jesus himself will restore us! Not only will we be restored, but we will be “mature and complete: lacking nothing.” These losses, painful as they may be, give us the ability to grow in ways that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. When we come to truly believe this, the losses will not overwhelm us.

loser: part 1

I’m a loser.



Have you ever lost something? If you’re anything like me, you’ve lost many things in your life. Sometimes the most frustrating loss is when you know you’ll misplace an object, so you take great pains to put it somewhere you will remember. However, after a short time, you’ve forgotten where that special place is and spend many unsuccessful hours searching for it.

Loss is something that everyone must face. I guess its just a part of life. We have many adaptations to help us to keep from losing things – a button on the phone base to keep us from losing our cordless phones, maps and GPS systems to keep us from losing our way, even special doctors to keep us from losing our minds.



But sometimes even with the best of intentions, we lose. Some losses are small – you may not even notice its missing until you find it years later. Other losses are much more painful – the loss of your health or job, the ending of a relationship, the loss of a dream, the death of a family member or friend.

Everywhere you look, people are trying to tell you to accumulate more things. Losing is weakness. Do whatever it takes to make sure you’re on top and you have everything you could want – and more. In contrast to this perspective, the life of a Christian should be characterized by loss. What??? God wants us to lose? Well, ok. I’ll lose the bad attitude and my sinful habits. Is that good enough? No? How about if I lose some of my time to ministry and service. Still not enough? What do you want from me, God?