Christians are Losers
There. I said it. If you want to be a Christian, you're going to have to embrace being a “loser.” Your greatest dreams must be of loserdom. You must long for it, deep in your bones. Which makes absolutely no sense at all for someone looking for the “life to the full” (John 10:10) that Jesus promised his followers.
Over and over, Jesus tells those around him that his path is paved with shame, not honor. It wanders through the valley of the shadow of death, through hatred, rejection, and disgrace.[1] There is no version of Christianity where you do not live in constant exposure to losing what you hold dear.
Only “Losers” Allowed
In case you haven’t read my other posts, a “loser” is someone who is truly vulnerable – someone who “voluntarily exposes themselves to meaningful risk.”[2] Literally, a “loser” is someone who can lose anything at any time. More importantly, they take intentional steps to place themselves in situations that require God to take care of them. And the thing is, “losers” lose. Jesus requires this sort of loserhood and promises it will come. Here are just a few examples:
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed.” Luke 9:23:26 ESV
“So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:33
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Matthew 5:11 NIV
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” John 15:18–20
There is no fine print to being a Christian. It’s red lettering in most Bibles. Following Jesus means denial, death, renunciation, insults, persecution, slander, and hatred. This is a loser’s biography. When asked what we wanted to be when we grew up, very few of us confidently responded, “I want to be insulted, persecuted, and hated.” This is the nightmare, not the dream.
Only “Losers” Wear Crosses
At the time of Jesus’ ministry, crucifixion was the highest and worst form of capital punishment. [3] They considered it worse than burning and decapitation. In addition to being convenient (you could do it anywhere), it had the added benefit of serving as a billboard warning to anyone considering imitating the crimes.
But during this time period, everyone knew what kind of person hung on those crosses. As biblical scholar Martin Hengel describes it:
“Death on the cross was the penalty for slaves, as everyone knew; as such it symbolized extreme humiliation, shame and torture.” [4]
Roman citizens were rarely crucified, and those who were guilty of the most heinous crimes against the empire.
When Jesus says his followers must “take up their cross,” he does mean a 21st-century Western sort of struggle where a neighbor gives us a funny look when inviting them to church. He means we must stoop and prepare ourselves for a life so different, that it will invite shame every moment until we die.
And honestly, I had to stop and consider the words I just wrote. They scared the tar out of me. My stomach just wrapped around itself. I know these words. I’ve tried to live by them. And as a single and even young married man, this was challenging but exciting. Now, however, I’ve got two little girls under the age of four. I used to live in a cockroach-infested apartment without AC. Now I have a townhouse. I have so much more to lose. If I lost it all tomorrow, at best, people would sigh with pity, at worst, shake their heads with judgment.
Choose What You Lose
In many ways, God has given me the life of my dreams. But the more I cling to it, the more I realize how quickly it could all vanish. One of the great paradoxes of following Jesus is that “those who want to save their life will lose it, while those who loses their life for my sake will save it.” This is ridiculous. If I see a bus coming, I jump out of the way. I don’t stand there, hoping for something to rescue me. While Jesus speaks to the spiritual life, the principle remains – I want to keep my life. I want to stay alive. As English novelist, Samuel Butler said:
Self-preservation is the first law of nature.[5]
While nature may hold to this, Jesus does not. He commands his followers to swing an industrial-sized wrecking ball at this “law” and shatter it into a million pieces. And if we don’t, he warns us that our treasures will eventually slip from our fingers that we clench so tightly.
If something happened to my family, it would devastate me. If I lost my house, it would crush me. If I lost my job it would deflate me. But according to Jesus, if I’m not willing to lose them, it will destroy me. And if I risk the loss, it will save me.
How? How could losing everything I’ve ever dreamed of save me? I don’t think the loss is the point. The point is Jesus. He built everything I have and will continue to grant life in abundance, even if I lose everything. Even if my family loses everything – somehow, some way, I have to believe that’s true.
What kind of “loser” sets up their life to maximize risk rather than minimize it? Only a “loser” who willingly steps into the footsteps of a God.
“Losers” Win
Disciples of Jesus are “losers” who spend their time reading a two-thousand-year-old book expecting it to give them relationship advice. We speak to the air to solve our problems. We invest our money in things and people from whom we’ll never receive dividends. We willingly expose our shameful secrets to people. We associate with the uncool, unpopular rejects who bum everyone else out. We speak to friends, neighbors, family, and strangers about an ancient Jewish carpenter who can save your soul. We risk it all because we know at some point, we’ll lose it all.
And in that losing, we win.
We don’t win the game that the world is playing. We win a game played in the halls of eternity. A game where the prize never fades and never disappoints. We lose it all to win forever because the prize is Jesus.
Notes
[1] There are two Biblical objections to this concept that I will address in later posts. The first, Romans 8:37 where Paul declares that we are “More than conquerors,” which seems to nullify the idea of being a “loser.” The second is 1 Timothy 3:7 where church overseers must have a “good reputation with outsiders” in order to serve; hardly the profile of a loser. As I said before, I will do a deeper dive into these in future posts, but in simple terms, the second half of Rom 8:37 qualifies our victory as only through Christ Jesus our Lord, which doesn’t negate our inherent loserdom as outlined in Rom 3 or 5, for example. 1 Timothy 3:7 correlates a good reputation with having integrity of the gospel lifestyle rather than being seen as a successful, productive member of society.
[2]This definition combines the work of religious and secular scholars. For more, read my upcoming book “God Loves Losers” which will be released in late 2024.
[3] Martin Hengel, Crucifixion: In the Ancient World and the Folly of the Message of the Cross, trans. John Bowden (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977), 33.
[4]Hengel, 62.
[5] This is the subtitle of his book “The Odyssey of Homer”
