God uses losers...like me

Our culture loves competition. More specifically, we love winning. We love winners. This time of year is a fantastic example. Early in the year we make a big deal about a football game. Everyone has an opinion or “favorite”, even if your own team isn’t playing. Now in March, we fill out basketball brackets and pick winners most of whom we haven’t seen all year.

I live in Iowa. Every fall there’s a heated rivalry game between Iowa and Iowa State. The build up starts in late summer and builds up until the big day. Even people that have no interest or knowledge of football pick a side. We do this automatically. We love competition. We hope to be on the winning side. We love winners. Winners are unstoppable and on top of everyone else. Winners believe they can’t lose. That is the problem with winners.

Bill Gates once said, “Success is a lousy teacher. It makes smart people think they can’t lose.”

That is so true. Once you think you can’t lose, you feel invincible. You don’t need anybody else, because you are successful on your own perceived merit. However, success never lasts. The band Blood, Sweat, and Tears famously sang “what goes up, must come down.” That is an accurate description of life. The winner always falls. There is always another winner next year.

When I say that God prefers losers, I mean that he prefers people who admit they are weak, admit their mistakes, acknowledge their flaws and cry out to him for help. He prefers people that are broken, because then you have to fully rely and trust in him alone. But, why would God choose to use losers like us?

Well, that is because everyone on Earth is extremely weak and broken. Everyone on Earth has a rap sheet. The “moral perfection” club is non existent here on Earth. He doesn't really have a big pool to choose from. God works with and uses sinners like us, because that is how he designed it. When we are weak, he is strong. (Thank you first grade sunday school.) Once we reach heaven, we are all perfected by his amazing grace. Until then, God must use perfectly imperfect losers like us.

Still don’t believe me? Let’s look at biblical examples. Everyone has seen this role call of losers in the bible, but I thought it appropriate to include here.

Noah got drunk

Abraham was old

Sarah laughed at God

Rahab was a prostitute

Moses was a murderer

Job went bankrupt

Gideon was afraid

Samson had major anger management issues (not to mention lust)

David was an adulterer and a murderer

Elijah was depressed

Jonah ran away from God

Naomi was a widow

Paul persecuted Christians before he was one

Peter denied Christ

Martha worried about everything

The Disciples fell asleep while praying

Get the point???

If God chose to use perfect people with no history of sin, had no weakness or flaws, then all of the credit and praise would go to that person and not to God. By choosing to use sinful losers with a rap sheet of sin longer than any book, he alone gets the credit. Christ alone gets the praise. God gets the glory when broken people do big things with his strength.

2 Corinthians 4:7 We now have this light shining in our heart, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

Clay pots are terrible. They are so fragile and easily broken. They don’t just break in two either, they shatter when dropped. Sound familiar? That is true of all of our lives.

Everyone has their weakness. Everyone has their limits and challenges. Yet, God chooses us. He doesn’t need us, but he wants us. 

God chooses to use losers….like me.