The “I’m a Loser” Moment
Read The Daily:
He canceled the written charges against us and all that their penalty demanded. He canceled them by nailing them to the cross. Colossians 2:13
I met with a young guy recently who was really struggling. He was nervous, fidgety, and then, looking me straight in the eye, he said, “Honestly, I’m a loser.” It wrecked me. He wasn’t saying “sometimes I act like a loser” or “I feel like a loser.” He was stating it as his identity. And that’s where things get dangerous.
When we start believing the negative labels we put on ourselves – “I’m an addict,” “I’m a failure,” “I’m just not good enough” – we get trapped. We start thinking that’s just who we are, and we can’t escape it. But that’s not our true identity.
God’s perspective is entirely different. He doesn’t see us as defined by our worst moments or our biggest struggles. The Bible says He canceled the charges against us. He didn’t just offer a payment plan; He completely wiped the slate clean by nailing all our sins to the cross. That means our identity isn’t “loser” or “failure.” Our identity is “forgiven,” “loved,” and “made alive in Christ.” That’s the radical good news.
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Prayer for the Day
God what are you showing me? What am I going to do about it?
God help me to see one person that I can serve through a kind word, random act of kindness, or simple gift today?
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Read The New Testament In A Year
It’s exactly what he promised, beginning with Abraham and right up to now. Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went back to her own home. When Elizabeth was full-term in her pregnancy, she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives, seeing that God had overwhelmed her with mercy, celebrated with her. On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and were calling him Zachariah after his father. But his mother intervened: “No. He is to be called John.” “But,” they said, “no one in your family is named that.” They used sign language to ask Zachariah what he wanted him named. Asking for a tablet, Zachariah wrote, “His name is to be John.” That took everyone by surprise. Surprise followed surprise–Zachariah’s mouth was now open, his tongue loose, and he was talking, praising God! A deep, reverential fear settled over the neighborhood, and in all that Judean hill country people talked about nothing else. Everyone who heard about it took it to heart, wondering, “What will become of this child? Clearly, God has his hand in this.” Then Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, Luke 1:55-67
The best that can be said for it is that the testing process will bring truth into the open and confirm it. And then I find that you bring your divisions to worship–you come together, and instead of eating the Lord’s Supper, you bring in a lot of food from the outside and make pigs of yourselves. Some are left out, and go home hungry. Others have to be carried out, too drunk to walk. I can’t believe it! Don’t you have your own homes to eat and drink in? Why would you stoop to desecrating God’s church? Why would you actually shame God’s poor? I never would have believed you would stoop to this. And I’m not going to stand by and say nothing. Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord’s Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from the Master himself and passed them on to you. The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, broken for you. Do this to remember me. After supper, he did the same thing with the cup: This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you. Each time you drink this cup, remember me. What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt. 1 Corinthians 11:19-26