Taking The L
God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. Matthew 5:3 (NLT)
Who do you know that does not want to win? To be honest, I cannot think of anyone like that. There are those who might not care as much about winning, but I can’t think of anyone who honestly likes to lose. However, there was one concept that I did learn as I grew older. You do not want to always win. That probably sounds counterintuitive, but here is the rationale. There are times when you are in a battle to win, and you think about the many battles that are to come. Being married for over 27 years, you learn an unwritten concept called ‘relational currency.’ This is the currency you use when you are having a discussion where you and your spouse disagree. If you are believing you are always right, you want to win a discussion spending as much currency or goodwill to do so, but if you are always fighting to win small discussions, you will have a harder time winning bigger ones because you are perceived as inflexible and used a lot of that currency winning trivial arguments. Thus, the wall of resistance becomes greater because the stakes are higher, and the other side already knows your prior unwillingness to budge. Others might call it ‘picking their battles.’ I mention this because of a remarkably interesting story I heard about the early Christians.
The early Christians withstood great persecution for their belief in Jesus Christ. I often fear I would not have withstood some of the pressure from the Roman emperors. However, these Christians were willing to take whatever punishment was due them even if it meant their lives. Why? Yes, I understand that it was for Jesus Christ, and that is what following Him meant. But that also meant loss of life. Why would one give their life for this belief? Again, I get the teaching of ‘no greater love than to lay down one’s life for their friends’ bit, but why? Yes, I know I sound like the kid badgering their parents with questions, but there is a point to this. In the story, the speaker explained that the early Christians were happy to take the loss (in this case life) because they already had the greater win (knowing Christ had risen from the grave and they would be with Him). It was not that they did not want to fight for their life. It was they had such peace in knowing Jesus Christ was the Messiah who was God, they would live for Him even if they lost their life because that was the ultimate victory. That was how they saw themselves as winners even if for that time they as the saying goes ‘took the L.’
Victory comes to those who believe Christ is Lord. The very first Beatitude is one I rarely focused on because since being born again, I felt that I both knew and was blessed by God. However, after reading this a few more times, I was both humbled and convicted by it. If you go by the more commonly known New King James Version, the first part reads, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” which is the Greek translation. If you feel God’s power in you, one might not feel ‘poor in spirit.’ The key difference is ‘poor in spirit’ here is not talking about when you feel God with you. It is when you are beaten, tired, and weary, and might even question whether He knows you are there. That is what ‘poor is spirit’ is. It’s about realizing we always need Him. This brings me to my story of the early Christians. They were never ‘poor in God’s spirit.’ But they were beaten, challenged, and saw no positive end game to doing all these sacrificial deeds that Jesus asked of them. That was because they did not see the wins on earth. They saw them in Heaven for Jesus said, “Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:20) Thus, they were willing to take the loss in that moment being sacrificial to others as much of the Beatitudes suggest (meek, hunger and thirst, pure heart, etc.) because the Kingdom of Heaven would be theirs in the end. And it will be ours if we live as Christ would ask us to.
Our love for God and His people supersedes all things. Yes, it is always a struggle because the things we want and push for is what we believe is best. However, when we push for things we want in God’s name, are we pushing without realizing what is the ultimate prize? God always has the final say, and we have already won if we realize Jesus still reigns on the throne. Let us not be preoccupied with pushing for a win if it does not reflect our being a child of God. What have you been pushing for that God can manage? How can we sacrifice more for God’s glory? My prayer is that we sacrifice ourselves to what God wants, and be willing on earth to sometimes ‘take the L.’ Amen.