I’m fascinated with our obsession with winners. During the Olympics we watch people who have trained for years, honed their skills to the finest and yet because they finish one thousandth of a second behind the bronze medalist we don’t even hear their names. They are the “also rans.” One thousandth of a second is less than a heartbeat. It is time so brief we humans can only measure it with electronics. Yet it is the difference between being honored for excellence and obscurity. We just don’t pay much attention to losers. How many of us can remember the names of those who lost the last five presidential elections? Yet these were men millions deemed capable of leading our nation.
It’s not that way in heaven. Us losers–you and me,who have all sinned and come short (Romans 3:23)–are treated like winners. Paul writes about our being more than conquerors. (Romans 8:37). We are not obscure in the halls of heaven. Our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. (Revelation 13). God’s system is upside down compared to ours. His values are not our values. The first is last and the last first. Sit at the bottom of the table and He will move us to the head of the table. He will invite each of us to sit with Him in His throne. The whole story is so unlike our nature.
If we ever wondered if all this is true, it has to be, because it isn’t the way humans would design it. Humans would only let the perfect ones have the prize. Well, I guess that is the way it is. Fortunately, for us it is the perfection of Jesus that counts for us. We win.
Written by Roger Bothwell on February 22, 2010
Spring of Life Ministry, Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org