You’re a Loser!

On Tuesday Norwich City lost 2-0 to Sheffield Wednesday. Norwich City manager Johannes Hoff Thorup said: ‘I don’t think [there are] many positives in this…We tried to prepare and we didn’t prepare well enough.’

Losing is painful; it requires honesty…

Yesterday focused on Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory. It’s easy to win well. Kamala Harris faced the cameras as a loser, saying, ‘The light of the American promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up.’ She pledged to ‘engage in a peaceful transfer of power.’

Losing well requires strength and grace.

In school we taught children to lose well. Losing can make us stronger, more self-aware, more humble, more determined. Losing can be good for us.

Being a loser has taken on a wider, darker meaning. It speaks about the sort of person you are, rather than an event that you failed to win. Recently I’ve spoken to several friends who’ve suggested that they’re losers… into two ways:

Some look at their lives and see failure – failed marriages, failed careers, accumulated debt, tiny house, embarrassing car. They say, ‘I’ve made poor choices, messed up, achieved nothing; I’m a loser – it’s my fault.’

Others see them themselves as victims. People with power have bullied, criticised and manipulated them. They say, ‘I’ve been treated unjustly, misunderstood, deliberately overlooked; they’ve made me a loser.’

This morning I read the account of the woman ‘caught in adultery’. The religious leaders bring her to Jesus demanding that she be stoned. She’s a loser by any standard.

Jesus challenges them; ‘Let the one who’s never sinned throw the first stone.’ They all walk away.

Jesus speaks to the woman: ‘I don’t condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.’ He might have said, ‘I don’t think you’re a loser; now go and prove it.’

Here are words for me when I feel I’m a loser; as a Jesus-follower here are words for me to give to my friends who think they’re losers.