Introduction to Losing

This blog is not about New Year’s Resolutions. It’s not about changing habits, finding myself, or a better balance. It’s not because I’m bored or busy.

If I wanted to, I could do anything I set my mind to; I could plan, prepare, and change. I could attempt to take personal responsibility, become self-sufficient and independent, be a hard worker and not a burden. I could value what my culture does, what my generation does, and what my (enter group association of your choice here) does. I could value what my church congregation does. I could apply behavioral modification, cognitive interpretation, emotional development, heightened morality, even spiritual discipline. Trust me, I’ve tried. Lord, have I tried! But I don’t want to just be more disciplined; I want to be a disciple.

All of the things I have tried to manipulate to succeed before are byproducts of what I truly believe. I’m tired of putting on Band-Aids. I’m tired of cosmetic surgery. I need to be transformed.

This blog is because I want all in. I want to count everything as loss compared to knowing Christ Jesus as Lord (Phil. 3:8). I don’t want to miss out or be spit out (Rev.3:15-16). I want Jesus. I don’t want intellectual enlightenment, psychological or political predictability, cultural credibility, spiritual transcendence, or simply the right answer. I want Jesus.

Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and man. Growth is not an option; I am just choosing to focus the direction. I am intentionally choosing to follow Christ. I will not go the route of suppress and control. While I am choosing to develop aspects relevant to me, I am not aiming to compartmentalize. My entire endeavor is surrender. My intention is to expect and train for God’s purpose to prevail in me (Prov. 19:21). I wish to only take ownership of those things with which I have been equipped for His purpose. I claim any gifts allotted to me (1 Cor. 12:4), any harvest of the Holy Spirit living in me (Gal. 5:25), and all power delegated to me as a result (Acts 1:8). Otherwise, I give it up because it is not mine. An anxious, abrasive, analytical, control-oriented, prideful, self-reliant, comfortable Christian is about to lose it. Lord-willing. 

I am going to fail. I’m not about to pretend I won’t. His grace is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9). The One who calls me to it is faithful (1 Thess. 5:24). This blog might tell the story of my sin much more than any success. But then we would all see Jesus, right? If His power is made perfect in weakness, we might all be about to get a good look at His Greatness.

The Word of the Lord

“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it” Matthew 10:37-39.

{Can I just stop here to inadequately express in words my extreme blessedness that I have a father and mother who will find comfort and security in this being on my blog? If I dedicate myself to letting verse 37 be true of me, my parents will praise Him—because it’s true of them. Oh, what love!}

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? Or what can you give in exchange for your soul?” Matthew 16:24-26, Mark 8:34-37, Luke 9:23-25.

"Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it” Luke 17:33. 

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” Philippians 3:7-14.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” 2 Cor. 12:9-10.