Soy un Perdedor
“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Today’s Text: Romans 5:1-11 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
Paul didn’t say, “We also enjoy our sufferings.” Anyone who enjoys suffering needs to seek help. But every Christian has a choice to make whenever we personally come face-to-face with suffering. Are we going to give glory to God in our suffering, or are we going to glorify ourselves in our suffering?
A need to glorify ourselves in our sufferings may come from a deep-seated desire to be the tragic hero who receives the attention and love of everyone, like in the movie “Steel Magnolias” and so many K-dramas. Or it may come from a feeling that our suffering is undeserved, and everyone needs to know it.
However, many people don’t like the feeling of being pitied by others, especially in Asian cultures. They may have a difficult time differentiating between genuine pity born of concern and gloating over other people’s pain.
The difficulty of differentiating between concern and gloating may be due to the fact that we live in such a hyper-competitive world. The greatest sin according to the world is to be thought of as a loser. The greatest glory is to feel that everyone thinks of you as a winner.
It’s always been interesting to me. I have always enjoyed sports. But I have never had the kind of personality that needs to win. It’s nice to win. But if I lose, no big deal. If I play well, I’m happy. If I don’t play well, I’m less happy. But win or lose, I just enjoy the sport.
Maybe that is partly why God led me to pastoral ministry (even though most pastors I know are hyper competitive—hmmm). One thing that every pastor needs to learn how to do is to take up their cross and learn to “lose”—to follow Jesus who says that “winners” in the world’s perspective will be losers in the kingdom of God, and that it is the “losers” in the world’s perspective who will be the winners in the kingdom of God.
Of course, every Christian needs to learn that—not just pastors.
Jesus is not talking about winners and losers. He is saying that there are no winners and losers in His eyes. The whole framework of seeing the world in terms of winners and losers is strong evidence of the curse of sin. I’m pretty sure God hates that worldview.
The obsession over winning and losing intensifies our desire to gloat over people’s pain. And we do gloat over other people’s pain, don’t we. I have felt it in myself. And whenever I feel it in myself, it feels like vomit rising up in my throat.
When we glorify ourselves in our sufferings, it doesn’t produce perseverance. It produces pride. And that is not good. The word of God says -
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
— Proverbs 16:18
Paul says we ought to glorify God (not ourselves) in our sufferings because we “know”—that is, have faith—that to do so builds up our perseverance, which builds up our godly character (not a worldly character), which builds up our hope in Christ.
And here is where the rubber meets the road: Hope in Christ gives us the ability TODAY to be patient and wait.
Wait for what? Wait for others (because “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts”). Until when?
until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
— Ephesians 4:13
Father, You alone are the Winner, and we are all the winners in You through faith. Thank you for Your word that brings us together to glory in You, even in our losing. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
