You Lose

I hate those words. They bother me. I don’t like to lose and we live in a society that hates losing but how do we measure defeat? What criteria do we go by when attempting to decide who won and who lost?

I have been watching the news these past few days and I have begun to wonder if what some call defeat will actually mean victory. They see their party going down because of certain actions and they are in full damage control. They sound like they are scared of defeat. When people start talking about losing no one wants to lose. People begin to do whatever it takes to preserve a win, but what if how they are measuring victory is wrong? What if God is in control of all of this getting done what He needs to get done?

Several years ago my brother found himself in the very unglamorous position of helping a group of believers sell off all of their assets. The church had dwindled in attendance to the point where they could no longer keep their doors open. They sold the building and then divided the proceeds several different ways. One part went to a church plant in another suburb and the rest went to mission work at various churches.

Those who had been with the church for many years saw the sell of their building as a defeat. They were down and depressed as their facilities sold but was it really a loss? Did the church really face defeat? The original group of believers no longer uses the facility but another church does. This church is a Chinese church. These are people this group would have never reached with the good news of Jesus Christ. Other believers were added to various other fellowships in the area and a growing church plant came from this group’s demise.

Was it really a defeat? If you look at the big picture I would say it was a victory. One group who had lost their energy to grow and carry on gave way to another that did. One group who had seen the journey through watched as a new one took things in a different direction.

I was reminded of Habakkuk when he bemoans what he sees as defeat. It is God who chimes in to proclaim that he is doing something that will astound, a work that we humans would find unbelievable. Habakkuk sees defeat when God knows there is victory.

Maybe we spend too much time trying to call winners and losers instead of being reminded that God always win and Jesus has the final victory. Maybe if we worried less about score we wouldn’t see defeat when there is victory.