Do you have a “gift” for winning at losing? I don’t. I know that sounds like an odd question, but it was prompted by something I read on FB. The post was about the final push to restore power to our communities, and the thought was that the last person to have power restored should receive a gift of some kind. Suggestions included a cash award, a free year of service from NIPSCO, a free landscaping service, and so on. It took me back to when I used to play in golf tournaments – the top team always got a prize, but so did the losing team. I rarely won or lost. I was always in the overlooked middle. With my luck, in the FB “power restoration” scenario, I would come in second-to-last. I would beat the “winner at losing” by something like 1.3 seconds.
I couldn’t even lose to win. But the more I thought about that silly little competition, the more I realized that there is something deeply human about it.
We want to be recognized. Winning is best, but if it means losing, so be it. We want a prize. We want to be seen.
And then Jesus comes along and says something that sounds almost completely backwards: “The last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:16). And in another place: “Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:25).
Jesus seems to be telling us that the way to win is to stop trying to win … and to focus on intentionally losing instead. That’s a difficult lesson.
Jesus’s “other way” says that greatness isn’t found in getting above everyone else. It’s found in getting underneath someone else and lifting them up. The greatest are those who serve. The one who gives his or her life away discovers what life is really about.
And then Jesus didn’t just teach it. He lived it. He didn’t “win” by defeating his enemies in the expected way. He didn’t choose a throne. He chose the cross. Most of all, Jesus won by loving.
This is the strange math of the kingdom of God. Lose your life, and you find it. Give, and you receive. Serve, and you become great. Lift others up, and you will be lifted up.
Maybe the past two weeks have given us more than an opportunity to complain about the inconvenience. Maybe we’ve been given an opportunity to remember what matters. Maybe we’ve been given an opportunity to rethink what it means to win.
There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a little competition. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to win.
But Jesus asks us to consider a different question: What if winning isn’t about what we get? What if winning is about what we give?
What if the kingdom of God isn’t a race where we defeat everyone else but a table where we make room for everyone else?
That’s a pretty good way to lose, don’t you think?
May your day be blessed, and your power be restored!
Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for reminding me that your kingdom doesn’t work the way the world does. Teach me to let go of my need to be first, to be noticed, or to be right. Help me be more like Jesus, who showed us that what looks like losing is really victory. May I find in you the life that truly matters. Amen.
