Biggest Loser

In his book, “Too Good to be True”, Michael Horton discusses a concern for contemporary Christianity. That Christianity has become the religion of success. That in America we have gone from a country for the poor, weak, heavy burdened to a country of the successful and that Christianity has gone from the religion of the “sick soul” to the religion of the “healthy minded”.

Horton points out that; “a religion of healthy-mindedness, which ignores the reality of the fall in all its aspects, renders itself finally nothing more than a form of therapy during times of plenty, and irrelevant in times of tragedy. What we need is not therapy, but news – good news, the kind of news that lifts up the downcast, binds up the broken, save the lost, and brings hope to those who are at the end of their rope.

The bottom line…is that the gospel is good news for losers, that in fact we are all losers if we measure ourselves by God’s interpretation of reality rather than our own.”

It seems to me this is a matter of vision. Can we see beyond the ways of the world, can we see beyond temporal success, can we see the perfection of Christ that he would come to save the “losers” of the world?

There are trials and suffering in this world and it can only begin to make sense through the lens of grace; the lens of redemption. I am reminded of Psalm 40:

1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. 
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; 
he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. 
Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him.

Praise God! Father, may we come to understand your love is amazing, that despite ourselves you love us still, that the Gospel is good news for us all and that when we come to see ourselves in terms of your eternal reality; we come to see just how amazing it is that through Christ there is a great reversal; the poor become rich, the weak become strong, the heavy burden is lifted, the losers are winners.

Grace and Peace!